Marjorie Taylor

Marjorie Taylor is Professor Emerit of Psychology, University of Oregon. Her research is on the development of imagination and creativity, including studies of young children who invent pretend friends, older children who create imaginary worlds and adult fiction writers who develop relationships with the characters in their novels. Taylor is the editor of The Oxford Handbook of the Development of Imagination (2013), author of Imagination Companions and the Children Who Create Them (1999), and co-author (with Naomi Aguiar) of Imaginary Friends and the People Who Create Them (2024), an expanded 2nd edition of her 1999 book. Her research on imaginary friends has been featured in magazines, newspapers, podcasts, documentaries, radio and television. She lives on Orcas Island off the coast of Washington State.