thumb|[[Caliban has a conversation with his imaginary friends in Folger Theatre's production of Shakespeare's The Tempest.]]
Imaginary friends (also known as pretend friends, invisible friends or made-up friends) are a psychological and a social phenomenon where a friendship or other interpersonal relationship takes place in the imagination rather than physical reality.
Although they may seem real to their creators, children usually understand that their imaginary friends are not real.
The first studies focusing on imaginary friends are believed to have been conducted during the 1890s. There is little research about the concept of imaginary friends in children's imaginations. Klausen and Passman (2007) report that imaginary companions were originally described as being supernatural creatures and spirits that were thought to connect people with their past lives. Adults in history have had entities such as household gods, guardian angels, and muses that functioned as imaginary companions to provide comfort, guidance and inspiration for creative work. However, some psychologists will define an imaginary friend only as a separate created character. Imaginary friends can be people, but they can also take the shape of other characters such as animals or other abstract ideas such as ghosts, monsters, robots, aliens or angels. These characters can be created at any point during a lifetime, though Western culture suggests they are most acceptable in preschool- and school-age children. Once children reach school age, boys and girls are equally likely to have an imaginary companion. suggest that imaginary friends are much like a fictional character created by an author.
As Eileen Kennedy-Moore points out, "Adult fiction writers often talk about their characters taking on a life of their own, which may be an analogous process to children’s invisible friends." In addition, Marjorie Taylor and her colleagues have found that fiction writers are more likely than average to have had imaginary friends as children.
There is a difference between the common imaginary friends that many children create, and the imaginary voices of psychopathology. Often when there’s a psychological disorder and any inner voices are present, they add negativity to the conversation. The person with the disorder may sometimes believe that the imagined voices are physically real, not an imagined inner dialog.
Kutner (n.d.) reported that 65% of 7-year-old children report they have had an imaginary companion at some point in their lives. He further reported:
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Imaginary friends are an integral part of many children's lives. They provide comfort in times of stress, companionship when they're lonely, someone to boss around when they feel powerless, and someone to blame for the broken lamp in the living room. Most important, an imaginary companion is a tool young children use to help them make sense of the adult world.</blockquote>
Taylor, Carlson & Gerow (c2001: p. 190) hold that:
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despite some results suggesting that children with imaginary friends might be superior in intelligence, it is not true that all intelligent children create them.
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If imaginary friends can provide assistance to children in developing their social skills, they must function as important roles in the lives of children. Hoff (2004 – 2005) was interested in finding out the roles and functions of imaginary friends and how they impacted the lives of children. The results of her study have provided some significant insight on the roles of imaginary friends. Many of the children reported their imaginary friends as being sources of comfort in times of boredom and loneliness.
Because imagination play with a character involves the child often imagining how another person (or character) would act, research has been done to determine if having an imaginary companion has a positive effect on theory of mind development. When children develop the realization that other people have different thoughts and beliefs other than their own, they are able to grow in their development of theory of mind as they begin to have better understandings of emotions. Hope seems to be the underlying tool children use in motivation. The researchers explored the prevalence of imaginary companions in adolescence by investigating the diaries of adolescents age 12-17.
Birth order
To uncover the origin of imaginary companions and learn more about the children who create them, it is necessary to seek out children who have created imaginary companions. Unfortunately young children cannot accurately self-report, therefore the most effective way to gather information about children and their imaginary companions is by interviewing the people who spend the most time with them. Often mothers are the primary caretakers who spend the most time with a child. Therefore, for this study 78 mothers were interviewed and asked whether their child had an imaginary friend. A study that examined the differences in self-talk frequency as a function of age, only-child, and imaginary childhood companion status provides a insight to the commonalties of children with imaginary companions. The researchers collected information from college students who were asked if they ever had an imaginary friend as a child (Brinthaupt & Dove, 2012). There were three trials in the study and the researchers found that there were significant differences in self-talk between different age groupings.