Abstract: Although in recent years there has been some increase in research on Imaginary Friends,... more Abstract: Although in recent years there has been some increase in research on Imaginary Friends, there are several aspects related to the topic which have been very scarcely researched or not addressed at all. In most cases research was conducted on imaginary friends of young children with less emphasis on adolescents and grownups. This research addressed all age groups. The most important aspect of the research is the confirmation of the hypothesis that Imaginary Friends, Companions or Councilors have adaptive functions in the life of a person. This positive function is perceived mostly in terms of assis- tance and counseling. Another important aspect is that the research was extended to examine the cases of graduates of Mind Control courses. This is important in the sense that all Mind Control graduates have Imaginary Friends as councilors. There has been no Imaginary Friends related scientific research conducted yet which extended its scope to include the personal councilors of individuals practicing this method. This research can be regarded as an introductory study in this direction. The research has pursued answers which ultimately confirmed the results of previous findings concerning the existence of Imaginary Friends. We have compared individuals with and without Imaginary Friends, according to the employment of four parameters: Imagery, Fantasy, Altruism and Humor. Our findings show that there is no significant difference among individuals with or without Imaginary Friends as far as the employment of Imagery, Fantasy is concerned. The only significant statistical difference seen was between the graduates of Mind Control courses and the Control Group, in terms of Humor and Altruism. Keywords: imaginary friends, fantasy, coping, mind control, humor, altruism, imagery.
Abstract: Although in recent years there has been some increase in research on Imaginary Friends,... more Abstract: Although in recent years there has been some increase in research on Imaginary Friends, there are several aspects related to the topic which have been very scarcely researched or not addressed at all. In most cases research was conducted on imaginary friends of young children with less emphasis on adolescents and grownups. This research addressed all age groups. The most important aspect of the research is the confirmation of the hypothesis that Imaginary Friends, Companions or Councilors have adaptive functions in the life of a person. This positive function is perceived mostly in terms of assis- tance and counseling. Another important aspect is that the research was extended to examine the cases of graduates of Mind Control courses. This is important in the sense that all Mind Control graduates have Imaginary Friends as councilors. There has been no Imaginary Friends related scientific research conducted yet which extended its scope to include the personal councilors of individuals practicing this method. This research can be regarded as an introductory study in this direction. The research has pursued answers which ultimately confirmed the results of previous findings concerning the existence of Imaginary Friends. We have compared individuals with and without Imaginary Friends, according to the employment of four parameters: Imagery, Fantasy, Altruism and Humor. Our findings show that there is no significant difference among individuals with or without Imaginary Friends as far as the employment of Imagery, Fantasy is concerned. The only significant statistical difference seen was between the graduates of Mind Control courses and the Control Group, in terms of Humor and Altruism. Keywords: imaginary friends, fantasy, coping, mind control, humor, altruism, imagery.
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