Understanding Fantasy and Adult Doll Play Through Regression in Service of the Self

Abstract

This study explored doll play activities involving adult doll collectors, and students who participated in an experimental story creation task which incorporated dolls/toy images and urban/landscape settings. It was expected that a secure versus insecure sense of self would perform a mediating role. The study involved two data collections: Online and Laboratory. Both phases used a 10 item questionnaire regarding participant’s sense of self. The online phase measured attitudes about fantasy and play, along with creative aspects of the doll hobby by adult collectors. The laboratory phase sought to determine whether doll play activity involving undergraduate students could be simulated in a laboratory setting. We found that in both samples, a positive correlation was found between insecure sense of self and fantasy proneness. This indicates that adult collectors and to an extent undergraduates may utilize fantasy (e.g., world building) and doll play as an act of defensive regression to resolve internal conflicts. Subsequently, a negative correlation between planning the doll aesthetic and fantasy proneness was found in the adult collectors’ sample, which may indicate regression in service of the self.

Therapeutic Benefits of Adult Doll Play

“…A principal components factor analysis, with varimax rotation, on the Play and Fantasy questionnaire data (N ¼ 179) yielded three factors; (1) Fantasy proneness, (2) Anthropomorphism of toys during childhood, and (3) Symbolic play (see Table 2; Ignacio & Cupchik, 2020). Fantasy proneness was concerned with fantasy specific activities and behavior more broadly in everyday life.…”

“…Resources fueling fantasies are often derived from personal information and popular culture. Fantasies involving dolls (i.e., the inner reality) are also informed by a collector's external reality, and this feedback loop completes the customization process underlying adult doll play (Ignacio & Cupchik, 2020). Moreover, according to Winnicott, the intermediate state is an illusion and individuals may form a group or community based on shared illusory experiences (Winnicott, 1971).…”

Therapeutic Benefits of Adult Doll Play

“…Regression scores from the earlier study (i.e., Fantasy and Self measures) were used for correlating with measures in the current study. Ignacio & Cupchik, 2020). Fantasy proneness was concerned with fantasy specific activities and behavior more broadly in everyday life.…”

“…Self Questionnaire. A principal components factor analysis, with varimax rotation, was performed on the combined students' and experts' Self questionnaire data from the original publication (see Table 1, Ignacio & Cupchik, 2020) with the 40 new respondents (N ¼ 179). Three factors were derived: (1) Secure sense of self, (2) Insecure sense of self, and (3) Detached but emotional sense of self.…”

“…Doll collectors stated that mere physical interaction with their dolls (e.g., brushing the hair or changing the clothes of their dolls) has a soothing or healing effect. Ignacio and Cupchik (2020) looked at the relationship between symbolic play in childhood, fantasy and world-building, and adult doll play. They found that a close relationship with toys during childhood was associated with clarity of story characters and coherent story development during a task involving images of dolls and toys in urban and landscape settings.…”