The Oxford Handbook of the Development of Imagination (Oxford Library of Psychology) - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 019539576X ISBN 13: 9780195395761

Publisher: OUP USA, 2013

Synopsis

Children are widely celebrated for their imaginations, but developmental research on this topic has often been fragmented or narrowly focused on fantasy. However, there is growing appreciation for the role that imagination plays in cognitive and emotional development, as well as its link with children's understanding of the real world. With their imaginations, children mentally transcend time, place, and/or circumstance to think about what might have been, plan and anticipate the future, create fictional relationships and worlds, and consider alternatives to the actual experiences of their lives.

The Oxford Handbook of the Development of Imagination provides a comprehensive overview of this broad new perspective by bringing together leading researchers whose findings are moving the study of imagination from the margins of mainstream psychology to a central role in current efforts to understand human thought. The topics covered include fantasy-reality distinctions, pretend play, magical thinking, narrative, anthropomorphism, counterfactual reasoning, mental time travel, creativity, paracosms, imaginary companions, imagination in non-human animals, the evolution of imagination, autism, dissociation, and the capacity to derive real life resilience from imaginative experiences. Many of the chapters include discussions of the educational, clinical, and legal implications of the research findings and special attention is given to suggestions for future research.

About this title

Review:

This book should be in the libraries of clinicians and researchers who are interested in cognition and the fantasy world of children. (Doody's Notes)

About the Author:

Marjorie Taylor, Ph.D., is Professor of Psychology in the Department of Psychology at the University of Oregon.

About this edition

• Publisher: OUP USA
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 019539576X
• ISBN 13: 9780195395761
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 608
• Editor: Taylor Marjorie