Creating a questionnaire to measure fantasy orientation in children is rather an interesting task. We all have heard stories, believed in fairy god mothers, feared monsters and waited eagerly for the Santa. Have you ever wondered when we started distinguishing the reality from the fantasy and how stopping being a child influenced our growth. The purpose of the fantasy orientation questionnaire is to explore the same with the help of relevant literature and various scholarly researches. This essay starts with a critical discussion of what Fantasy orientation is, drawing significant points from various studies conducted on the matter. It continues to conduct an elaborate research with a group of 50 pre-school and kinder garden children aged 2 to 5. It presents arguments on how this questionnaire is relevant in measuring the fantasy orientation among children effectively than other methods.
Introduction
The ability to distinguish between what is fantasy and what is reality is one of the most basic human cognitive functions; it signifies an understanding of what is ‘real’ and ‘not real’. However there are certain individuals who are geared more towards a greater affinity for the imaginative and the creative. This affinity or gearing towards getting lost in fantasy or towards a high level of imagination is what is known as fantasy orientation, it is often seen as a measure of how much an individual sees themselves as discerning between reality and fantasy. Children have often observed the confusing boundary between reality and perception (Piaget 1930). Dawkins (1995) held that children don’t only confuse fantasy and perception but the tangible and intangible, drams and reality since a very young age. This influence of children’s perc...
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...Research Digest. Retrieved 17th April from the Research Digest Website: http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.in/2011/08/fantasy-prone-children-struggle-to.html
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Bouldin, Paula. “An Investigation of the Fantasy Predisposition and Fantasy Style of Children With Imaginary Companions”. Journal of Genetic Psychology. 2006. 167(1): 17-29.
Children can identify themselves with fairy-tale characters; they imagine themselves as heroes, who are capable of killing dragons, or simpletons, who demonstrate the superiority over clever people. Fantasies based on the fairy tales are extremely important part of the children’s lives, and this is not only because they describe threatening situations that resemble main fears of a young child such as the fear of getting lost, fear of wrong decisions, fear of monsters or evil animals. Happy endings, which are always present in fairy tales, give children the confidence that despite all their fears they will be able to win in the end. This knowledge helps them to prepare for the difficulties of life, regardless whether they are real or imagined (Doughty, 2006).
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Hansjorg, Hohr, (2000). Dynamic Aspects of Fairy Tales: social and emotional competence through fairy tales. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, Vol 44, No 1, Department of Education, Norwegian University of Science and Technology
Tatar, Maria. Off with their Heads! Fairy Tales and the Culture of Childhood. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992.
In one of his most important books, The Uses of Enchantment written in 1976, Bettelheim explores the relationship between the development of a child and fairy tales. Many praised the ideas that Bettelheim had come up with, but critics accused it of being plagiarized or having false information. In Bettelheim’s attempt to describe the influence of fairy tales on children, he creates many excellent theories that would have an impact in the psychological community however; this impact is weakened by counterpoints made by critics.
Fairy tales have been told for generations and now every child has dolls, movies and books filled with magical adventure. Cinderella, Sleeping beauty, and Snow white have become classics in every household. However, J.R.R. Tolkien described in his essay “On Fairy Stories” that the world has corrupted fairy tales by making them childlike and denoting them to evil. Our culture prescribed fairies to be diminutive, supernatural creatures; however, fairies are neither small nor necessarily supernatural. A fairy is a direct product of Faerie, which is “the realm or state in which fairies have their being” (Tolkien “On” 2). Fairy stories are derived from the human mind, more so the imagination. Without the imagination, Faerie would be dull. The imagination produces images that result in a Secondary World, or Fantasy. Tolkien believed that Fantasy is an inherent human action that provides recovery, escape, and consolation; all of which readers can experience in The Fellowship of the Ring, the first of Tolkien’s fairy tale trilogy filled with hobbits, elves, and magical rings.
...“ The Importance of Imagination in Child Development” teach us that we need authors of fictional stories to teach us how to think out of the box and think the unthinkable. Not only are these stories enjoyable, but now we find that they are beneficial. These lessons are in life, yes, but the fictional story has a way of transporting the reader to far off places.
Children in this stage (aged 4 to 8) understand the world by perceiving it, being influenced by it, and acting on it. In turn, the surrounding world shapes the child. This demonstrates the role of nurture within the child’s
Siegler, R., & Alibali, M. (2005). Children’s Thinking Fourth Edition. Prentice Hall Inc. Upper Saddle River NJ.
Björklund, D. F. (2012). Children‘s thinking: Cognitive development and individual differences (5th Ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth.
The Extent to Which an Acquisition of a Theory of Mind is Essential for the Typical Development of the Child
Siegler, Robret, Judy DeLoache, and Nancy Eisenberg. How Children Develop. 3rd ed. New York: Worth Publishers, 2011. 425-98. Print.
Imagination this term raises a concern about if we are we born with this ability or we gain this ability through learning. It is argued that children learn to imagine and pretend, Rogers and Evans (2008) stated that we are not born with this ability only we have the potential for it. According to Vygotsky (1978) at the preschool age there are many unrealizable tendencies and desires emerge. He believes that if these needs are not realized immediately and...
We all grew up hoping that we were the princesses who met the dreamy prince and lived ‘happily ever after’ like in a fairytale.People debate over whether or not Disney fairytales are beneficial for children. Like Melissa Taylor the author of the piece ‘10 reasons why kids need to read non disney fairy tales’, I am against disneyfied fairy tales. In this essay I will argue on why kids should not only watch disney fairytales but also the real versions.