Abstract

BENAVIDES DELGADO, Jaqueline. Imaginary Friends and Understanding of Apparent Emotions in Children Between 3 to 6 Years Old. Divers.: Perspect. Psicol. [online]. 2020, vol.16, n.2, pp.271-281.  Epub July 01, 2020. ISSN 1794-9998.  https://doi.org/10.15332/22563067.6294.

The aim of this research was to establish differences across three groups of children (N = 43, aged 3 to 6 years old) regarding the understanding of apparent emotions and popularity among their group of classmates. Children were classified into the following groups: children with IF (Imaginary Friends, n = 13), children with PO (Personified Objects, n = 15), and children who did not show any of the previous forms of children’s imagination (n = 15). They were tested with stories based on Harris, et al. (1986), which exemplified positive emotions in others and apparent negative emotions in themselves. The analyzes carried out showed that there are no significant differences between the three groups regarding the understanding of apparent positive or negative emotions. Results do not differentiate children from all three groups regarding popularity within their group of friends.

Keywords : imaginary friends; social skills; popularity; imagination; understanding of emotions.

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