What does imaginary companion mean?

What does “imaginary companion” mean?

A good point to start understanding children’s experience with imaginary companions is to understand what the term means. The most popular definition, which is based on one of the very first few empirical research on imaginary companions state that a pretended companion is:   

“an invisible character, named and referred to in conversations with other persons or played with directly for a period of time, at least several months, having an air of reality for the child, but no apparent objective basis. This excludes that type of imaginary play in which an object is personified, or in which the child himself assumes the role of the person in the environment.” (Svendsen, 1943, p. 988 as cited in Klausen & Passman, 2007). 

Even though it is a generally accepted definition, many researchers disagreed on the exclusion of personified objects and role playing (where the child daily mimics, and for an extended period, a certain character) because of their similarity with imaginary companions, thus, they included them in their definitions, especially personified objects (E.g. J. Singer & Singer, 1981 as cited in Gleason, Sebanc, and Hartup, 2000).  

References

               

Gleason. T, Sebanc, A., & Hartup. W. (2000). Imaginary Companions of Preschool Children. Developmental Psychology, 36(4), 419-428. doi: 10,1037//0012-1649.36.4.419.

Klausen, E., Passman, R. (2007). Pretend Companions (imaginary Playmates): The Emergence of a  Field. The Journal of Genetic Psychology,167(4), 349-364. doi: 10.3200/GNTP.167.4.349-364.

Kid and imaginary friend. Retrieved on October 29, 2010, from: http://www.indiareport.com/resources/images/original/kid-ima-fnds.jpg