The Oxford Handbook of the Development of ImaginationMarjorie Taylor Children are widely celebrated for their imaginations, but developmental research on this topic has often been fragmented or narrowly focused on fantasy. However, there is growing appreciation for the role that imagination plays in cognitive and emotional development, as well as its link with children's understanding of the real world. With their imaginations, children mentally transcend time, place, and/or circumstance to think about what might have been, plan and anticipate the future, create fictional relationships and worlds, and consider alternatives to the actual experiences of their lives. The Oxford Handbook of the Development of Imagination provides a comprehensive overview of this broad new perspective by bringing together leading researchers whose findings are moving the study of imagination from the margins of mainstream psychology to a central role in current efforts to understand human thought. The topics covered include fantasy-reality distinctions, pretend play, magical thinking, narrative, anthropomorphism, counterfactual reasoning, mental time travel, creativity, paracosms, imaginary companions, imagination in non-human animals, the evolution of imagination, autism, dissociation, and the capacity to derive real life resilience from imaginative experiences. Many of the chapters include discussions of the educational, clinical, and legal implications of the research findings and special attention is given to suggestions for future research. |
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actions activities adults animals anthropomorphism asked Asperger syndrome behavior beliefs Cambridge Carlson causal chapter characters chil Child Development childhood children with autism children’s ability children’s play children’s understanding chimpanzees Cognitive Development Cognitive Psychology concept context counterfactual thinking cues cultural Developmental Psychology dissociation dren dren’s effects emotional engage entities episodic memory evidence example experience Experimental false fantasy fictional Flavell Foley future Gopnik Harris human images imaginary companions imaginary relationships imagination interactions interpretive intervention invention involved Journal of Developmental learning Lillard Lubart MacKeith magical thinking make-believe memory ment narrative object one’s Oxford paracosms parents perception perspective Piaget possible preschool pretend play questions reality representations role role-play Science Singer skills social creativity Social Psychology story Suddendorf suggest task Taylor television theory of mind thought tion tive Tooth Fairy University Press Woolley worldplay York young children