A paracosm is a detailed imaginary world involving humans and/or animals, or perhaps even fantasy or alien creations. Often having its own geography, history, and language, it is an experience that is developed during childhood and continues over a long period of time: months or even years.
The concept was first described by a researcher for the BBC, Robert Silvey, with later research by British psychiatrist Stephen A. MacKeith, and British psychologist David Cohen. The term "paracosm" was coined by Ben Vincent, a participant in Silvey's 1976 study and a self-professed paracosmist.[1][2]
Psychiatrists Delmont Morrison and Shirley Morrison mention paracosms and "paracosmic fantasy" in their book Memories of Loss and Dreams of Perfection, in the context of people who have suffered the death of a loved one or some other tragedy in childhood. For such people, paracosms function as a way of processing and understanding their early loss.[3] They cite James M. Barrie, Isak Dinesen and Emily Bronte as examples of people who created paracosms after the deaths of family members. Literary historian Joetta Harty connects paracosm play with imperialism in her writings on the Brontes, Thomas De Quincey and Hartley Coleridge.[4] Dorothy and Jerome Singer reference paracosms in their studies on childhood imagination.[5]
Marjorie Taylor is another child development psychologist who explores paracosms as part of a study on imaginary friends.[6] In Adam Gopnik's essay, "Bumping Into Mr. Ravioli", he consults his sister, a child psychologist, about his three-year-old daughter's imaginary friend. He is introduced to Taylor's ideas and told that children invent paracosms as a way of orienting themselves in reality.[7]
Paracosms are also mentioned in articles about types of childhood creativity and problem-solving. Some scholars believe paracosm play indicates high intelligence. A Michigan State University study revealed that many MacArthur Fellows Program recipients had paracosms as children. Paracosm play is recognized as one of the indicators of a high level of creativity, which educators now realize is as important as intelligence.[8] In an article in the International Handbook on Giftedness, Michelle Root-Bernstein writes about paracosm play as an indicator of high levels of intelligence and creativity, which may "supplement objective measures of intellectual giftedness ... as well as subjective measures of superior technical talent."[9]
Examples of paracosms include Gondal, Angria, and Gaaldine, the fantasy kingdoms created and written about in childhood by Emily, Anne, and Charlotte Brontë, and their brother Branwell, and maintained well into adulthood.[10][11][12][13] Their contemporary, Hartley Coleridge, created and maintained the land of Ejuxria all his life.[14] Austin Tappan Wright's Islandia began as a childhood paracosm as did M.A.R. Barker's Tekumel. Another example is Borovnia, the fantasy kingdom created by Juliet Hulme and Pauline Parker in their mid-teens, as portrayed in the film Heavenly Creatures.[15] The modern fantasy author Steph Swainston's world of the Fourlands is another example of an early childhood paracosm.[16] Henry Darger began writing about the Realms of the Unreal in his late teens and continued to write and illustrate its epic adventures for decades. Joanne Greenberg created a paracosm called Iria as a young girl, and described it to Frieda Fromm-Reichmann while hospitalized at Chestnut Lodge. Fromm-Reichmann wrote about it in an article for the American Journal of Psychiatry;[17] Greenberg wrote about it as the Kingdom of Yr in her novel I Never Promised You a Rose Garden.[18]
Minggu, 23 Oktober 2011
Purposes
It has been theorized that children with imaginary companions may develop language skills and retain knowledge faster than children without them, which may be because these children get more linguistic practice while carrying out "conversations" with their imaginary friends than their peers get.[2]
Kutner (n.d.) holds that:
Imaginary companions are an integral part of many children's lives. They provide comfort in times of stress, companionship when they're lonely, someone to boss around when they feel powerless, and someone to blame for the broken lamp in the living room. Most important, an imaginary companion is a tool young children use to help them make sense of the adult world.[3]
Taylor, Carlson & Gerow (c2001: p. 190) hold that:
...despite some results suggesting that children with imaginary companions might be superior in intelligence, it is not true that all intelligent children create them.[4]
A long-time popular misconception is that most children dismiss or forget the imaginary friend once they begin school and acquire real friends. According to one study, by the age of seven, sixty-five percent of children report that they have had an imaginary companion at some point in their lives.[5] Some psychologists[who?] have suggested that children simply retain but stop speaking about imaginary friends, due to adult expectations and peer pressure. Still, some children report creating or maintaining imaginary friends as pre-teens or teenagers. Few adults report having imaginary friends. Dr. Benjamin Spock believed that imaginary friends past age four indicated that something was "lacking" in the child or his environment. Some child development professionals still believe that the presence of imaginary friends past early childhood signals a serious psychiatric disorder.[6][7] Others disagree, saying that imaginary friends are common among school-age children and are part of normal social-cognitive development.[8]
Kutner (n.d.) holds that:
Imaginary companions are an integral part of many children's lives. They provide comfort in times of stress, companionship when they're lonely, someone to boss around when they feel powerless, and someone to blame for the broken lamp in the living room. Most important, an imaginary companion is a tool young children use to help them make sense of the adult world.[3]
Taylor, Carlson & Gerow (c2001: p. 190) hold that:
...despite some results suggesting that children with imaginary companions might be superior in intelligence, it is not true that all intelligent children create them.[4]
A long-time popular misconception is that most children dismiss or forget the imaginary friend once they begin school and acquire real friends. According to one study, by the age of seven, sixty-five percent of children report that they have had an imaginary companion at some point in their lives.[5] Some psychologists[who?] have suggested that children simply retain but stop speaking about imaginary friends, due to adult expectations and peer pressure. Still, some children report creating or maintaining imaginary friends as pre-teens or teenagers. Few adults report having imaginary friends. Dr. Benjamin Spock believed that imaginary friends past age four indicated that something was "lacking" in the child or his environment. Some child development professionals still believe that the presence of imaginary friends past early childhood signals a serious psychiatric disorder.[6][7] Others disagree, saying that imaginary friends are common among school-age children and are part of normal social-cognitive development.[8]
Imaginary friend
For other uses, see Imaginary friend (disambiguation).
Imaginary friends and imaginary companions are a psychological and social phenomenon where a friendship or other interpersonal relationship takes place in the imagination rather than external physical reality. Imaginary friends are fictional characters created for improvisational role-playing. They often have elaborate personalities and behaviors. They may seem real to their creators, though they are ultimately unreal, as shown by studies.[1]
Imaginary friends are made often in childhood, sometimes in adolescence, and rarely in adulthood. They often function as tutelaries when played with by a child. They reveal, according to several theories of psychology, a child's anxieties, fears, goals and perceptions of the world through that child's conversations. They are, according to some children, physically indistinguishable from real people, while others say they see their imaginary friends only in their heads. There's even a third category of imaginary friend recognition: when the child doesn't see the imaginary friend at all, but can only feel his/her presence.
Imaginary friends and imaginary companions are a psychological and social phenomenon where a friendship or other interpersonal relationship takes place in the imagination rather than external physical reality. Imaginary friends are fictional characters created for improvisational role-playing. They often have elaborate personalities and behaviors. They may seem real to their creators, though they are ultimately unreal, as shown by studies.[1]
Imaginary friends are made often in childhood, sometimes in adolescence, and rarely in adulthood. They often function as tutelaries when played with by a child. They reveal, according to several theories of psychology, a child's anxieties, fears, goals and perceptions of the world through that child's conversations. They are, according to some children, physically indistinguishable from real people, while others say they see their imaginary friends only in their heads. There's even a third category of imaginary friend recognition: when the child doesn't see the imaginary friend at all, but can only feel his/her presence.
Behavioral cusp
A behavioral cusp is any behavior change that brings an organism's behavior into contact with new contingencies that have far-reaching consequences.[1] A behavioral cusp is a special type of behavior change because it provides the learner with opportunities to access (1) new reinforcers, (2) new contingencies (3) new environments, (4) new related behaviors (generativeness[2]), (5) competition with archaic or problem behaviors, and it (6) impacts the people around the learner, and (7) these people agree to the behavior change and support its development after the intervention is removed.
The concept has far reaching implications for every individual, and for the field of developmental psychology, because it provides a behavioral alternative to the concept of maturation and change due to the simple passage of time, such as developmental milestones. The cusp is a behavior change that presents special features when compared to other behavior changes.
The concept has far reaching implications for every individual, and for the field of developmental psychology, because it provides a behavioral alternative to the concept of maturation and change due to the simple passage of time, such as developmental milestones. The cusp is a behavior change that presents special features when compared to other behavior changes.
Play and adulthood
Researcher Stuart Brown says that play isn't important to children, it's important to humans (or for that matter, all high functioning animals). The broaden and build behaviors it fosters may have even greater value for adults than children. The mental state of flow is also a major component of play, and has itself been associated with things like creativity and happiness. Brown often quotes Brian Sutton-Smith's insight: "the opposite of play is not work, it is depression."[17] Examples of adult play abound (e.g. the arts, but also curiosity driven science).
Tim Brown explains that values like a bit of shamelessness during the creative process is extremely important in adult designers.[18]
Play may allow people to practice useful habits like learned optimism, which might help manage existential fears. Play also offers the opportunity to learn things that may not have otherwise been explicitly or formally taught (e.g. how to use, and deal with, deceit and misinformation). Thus, even though play is only one of many habits of an effective adult, it remains a necessary one.[10]
Tim Brown explains that values like a bit of shamelessness during the creative process is extremely important in adult designers.[18]
Play may allow people to practice useful habits like learned optimism, which might help manage existential fears. Play also offers the opportunity to learn things that may not have otherwise been explicitly or formally taught (e.g. how to use, and deal with, deceit and misinformation). Thus, even though play is only one of many habits of an effective adult, it remains a necessary one.[10]
Playtime
Main article: History of childhood
American historian Howard Chudacoff has studied the interplay between parental control of toys and games and children's drive for freedom to play. In the colonial era, toys were makeshift and children taught each other very simple games with little adult supervision. The market economy of the 19th century enabled the modern concept of childhood as a distinct, happy life stage. Factory-made dolls and doll houses delighted the girls. Organized sports filtered down from adults and colleges, as boys made good with a bat, a ball and an impromptu playing field. In the 20th century teenagers were increasingly organized into club sports supervised and coached by adults, with swimming taught at summer camps. The New Deal's WPA built thousands of local playgrounds and ball fields, promoting softball especially as a sport for everyone of all ages and sexes, as opposed to increasingly professionalized adult sports. By the 21st century, Chudacoff notes, the old tension between controls and freedom was being played out in cyberspace.[16]
American historian Howard Chudacoff has studied the interplay between parental control of toys and games and children's drive for freedom to play. In the colonial era, toys were makeshift and children taught each other very simple games with little adult supervision. The market economy of the 19th century enabled the modern concept of childhood as a distinct, happy life stage. Factory-made dolls and doll houses delighted the girls. Organized sports filtered down from adults and colleges, as boys made good with a bat, a ball and an impromptu playing field. In the 20th century teenagers were increasingly organized into club sports supervised and coached by adults, with swimming taught at summer camps. The New Deal's WPA built thousands of local playgrounds and ball fields, promoting softball especially as a sport for everyone of all ages and sexes, as opposed to increasingly professionalized adult sports. By the 21st century, Chudacoff notes, the old tension between controls and freedom was being played out in cyberspace.[16]
Childhood and play
Learning through play has been long recognized as a critical aspect of childhood and child development. Some of the earliest studies of play started in the 1890s with G. Stanley Hall, the father of the child study movement that sparked an interest in the developmental, mental and behavioral world of babies and children. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) published a study in 2006 entitled: "The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and Maintaining Strong Parent–Child Bonds". The report states: "free and unstructured play is healthy and – in fact – essential for helping children reach important social, emotional, and cognitive developmental milestones as well as helping them manage stress and become resilient."[12]
Many of the most prominent researchers in the field of psychology (including Jean Piaget, William James, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and Lev Vygotsky) have viewed play as endemic to the human species; indeed, the attributions projected upon an imaginary friend by children are key to understanding the construction of human spirituality and it pantheon(s) of deification (and demonization).
Play is explicitly recognized in Article 31 of The Convention on the Rights of the Child (adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations, November 29, 1989). which states:
1. Parties recognize the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.
2. Parties shall respect and promote the right of the child to participate fully in cultural and artistic life and shall encourage the provision of appropriate and equal opportunities for cultural, artistic, recreational and leisure activities.
Childhood "play" is also seen by Sally Jenkinson (author of The Genius of Play) to be an intimate and integral part of childhood development. "In giving primacy to adult knowledge, to our 'grown-up' ways of seeing the world, have we forgotten how to value other kinds of wisdom? Do we still care about the small secret corners of children's wisdom?"[13]
Modern research in the field of "affective neuroscience" has uncovered important links between role playing and neurogenesis in the brain.[14] Sociologist Roger Caillois used the word ilinx to describe the momentary disruption of perception that comes from forms of physical play that disorient the senses, especially balance.
In addition, evolutionary psychologists have begun to expound the phylogenetic relationship between higher intelligence in humans and its relationship to play.
Children's Games, 1560, Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Stevanne Auerbach mentions the role of play therapy in treating children suffering from traumas, emotional issues, and other problems.[15] She also emphasizes the importance of toys with high play value for child development and the role of the parent in evaluating toys and being the child's play guide.
Many of the most prominent researchers in the field of psychology (including Jean Piaget, William James, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung and Lev Vygotsky) have viewed play as endemic to the human species; indeed, the attributions projected upon an imaginary friend by children are key to understanding the construction of human spirituality and it pantheon(s) of deification (and demonization).
Play is explicitly recognized in Article 31 of The Convention on the Rights of the Child (adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations, November 29, 1989). which states:
1. Parties recognize the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.
2. Parties shall respect and promote the right of the child to participate fully in cultural and artistic life and shall encourage the provision of appropriate and equal opportunities for cultural, artistic, recreational and leisure activities.
Childhood "play" is also seen by Sally Jenkinson (author of The Genius of Play) to be an intimate and integral part of childhood development. "In giving primacy to adult knowledge, to our 'grown-up' ways of seeing the world, have we forgotten how to value other kinds of wisdom? Do we still care about the small secret corners of children's wisdom?"[13]
Modern research in the field of "affective neuroscience" has uncovered important links between role playing and neurogenesis in the brain.[14] Sociologist Roger Caillois used the word ilinx to describe the momentary disruption of perception that comes from forms of physical play that disorient the senses, especially balance.
In addition, evolutionary psychologists have begun to expound the phylogenetic relationship between higher intelligence in humans and its relationship to play.
Children's Games, 1560, Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Stevanne Auerbach mentions the role of play therapy in treating children suffering from traumas, emotional issues, and other problems.[15] She also emphasizes the importance of toys with high play value for child development and the role of the parent in evaluating toys and being the child's play guide.
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