PSYCHOLOGY – It reassures him, amuses him, serves as an excuse… By making a tailor-made friend, the child plays with his imagination.
When he was little, Julien had not one, but two imaginary friends! He told his parents of having attended the birthday of one of them, named Fred, in a circus, in the presence of a giraffe and an elephant. Julien may have had a particularly fertile imagination, but he is not the only child, far from it, to have experienced this kind of magic. In a 2004 US study by the Universities of Oregon and Washington, 65% of children over the age of 7 surveyed said they had had an imaginary friend at some point in their lives. In 67% of cases, this companion was invisible and in 33% of cases, it was embodied in one of their toys.
This article is for subscribers only. You have 87% left to discover.
Pushing back the limits of science is also freedom.
Keep reading your article for €0.99 for the first month
Already subscribed? Login