Imagination and Reality: The Role of Fantasy Play in Shaping Paranormal Perception in Children

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Imagination is not a simple cognitive process, it is more than that. It influences how children process the world around them. Fantasy play helps children expand their imagination, and cognitive and emotional development, but it also helps in shaping their perceptions of the paranormal world. The shift in reality and make-believe happens when children engage themselves in activities that involve role-play. It helps them understand the complex ideas of existence, fear and ‘the unknown’. 


The Importance of Fantasy Play


Fantasy play is what lets children disconnect from the real world, build imaginary worlds and imitate actions from the real-world setting. This type of play helps in the developmental benefits, cognitive skills, social connections and emotional regulation. According to the Swiss psychologist, Jean Piaget, role play and fantasy play were important for the development of cognitive advancement, thinking, exploring reality, symbolic thinking, creativity and problem-solving. Research suggests that imaginative play helps one to manage emotions, soothe oneself, and express oneself (Parenta , 2019). 


When children engage in fantasy play they imitate acts from their daily life. They try to take the other person's perspective into their act. This helps them with understanding others at a deeper level, emotionally and socially. Sometimes children also enact what they learn from story books, which makes the viewers/parents understand how the children perceive the books and how well they understood them. According to Vygotsky, fantasy play helps children practice social norms, and experiment with social rules which makes them prepared for future real-world challenges (Vygotsky, 1978). 


Fantasy play is an important framework that helps children explore emotions. Whether it is about playing a brave hero, a funny cartoon character or a scary-looking monster children can safely encounter their anxieties and fears. These encounters and experiences later indicate how we experience fear, including the paranormal. 


Understanding the Imagination-Reality Distinction


Around the age of three, children learn to distinguish between imagination and reality. Sometimes fictional scenarios are confused with real-world situations. Research by Weisberg (2015) suggests that at and before the age of five, children engage in an immense amount of fantasy play, but sometimes they also fight the implications of what is actually reality. 


Disbelief of the paranormal arises if the difference between reality and imagination is not done correctly. The mix of fantasy and reality can lead to how children interpret supernatural stories and experiences. Research conducted by Smith (2020) notes that children show such strong imaginative powers that it sometimes leads to them fully believing that their imagination (for example: monsters, superheroes and ghosts) is real. 


While adults and other individuals of older age groups might not trust the ghost stories and entities, children sometimes fail to do so and may integrate these thoughts and beliefs into their worldview. As the children start listening to stories about ghosts, vampires, monsters and demons they start integrating these elements into their fantasy play. 

The Influence of Fantasy Play on Paranormal Beliefs


Research suggests that the children who engage in including the supernatural in their fantasy play boost their belief in the paranormal. Children during fantasy play act out situations and create stories that can shape their thinking about supernatural things. They not only hear about these paranormal situations that they act out but also actively add them to their fantasy play. 


Berk and Meyers (2016) indicated that fantasy play allows children to understand the fear, anxiety and other emotions associated with the different roles they play. For example, if the child is playing the role of a ghost, they don’t only play the role at the surface level but also deeply understand the emotional examination. Once they incorporate the emotional aspect during the role play they learn to deal with and understand different emotions associated with it like fear and anxiety, which further shapes their view of the paranormal phenomena. 


Curiosity marked in the fantasy play can lead to a lifelong interest in the paranormal world (Niemann, 2020). Children who engage in paranormal fantasy play keep a sense of curiosity and amazement about supernatural phenomena even as adults. As teens and adults the beliefs found during imaginative play continue to grow. 


Balancing Reality with Fantasy: The Role of Adults


The role of parents and educators plays an important role in promoting healthy imaginative practices. Not only can adults help children distinguish between reality and imagination, but also help them regulate healthy imaginative thoughts. Encouraging open conversations about feelings of fear and anxiety leads to children being able to easily navigate their complex thoughts. Research by Brown and James (2018) suggests that parents should actively engage in their children’s imaginations rather than discourage and dismiss them.


Promoting and reinforcing children to engage in storytelling, acting, art, helps them build important skills. Adults can make the children listen to stories or watch movies related to the supernatural which helps them think about this and create discussion among the peers and between adults and the children. This can help them understand the difference between reality and imagination. By engaging in such acts, children can regulate negative emotions like fear and anxiety in a positive manner. 


Ultimately, understanding the difference and the balance between reality and imagination can help children think creatively yet critically. This helps the children perceive and process the paranormal concepts. 


Finding the balance and the interplay between imagination and reality is an important part of childhood. It affects how children perceive the world around them, especially when it comes to supernatural and paranormal phenomena. Through fantasy play children experience social norms and rules, explore their feelings, learn how to deal with negative emotions positively, and think about complicated ideas. This imagination helps them understand fears and also shapes their belief about paranormal phenomena. 


As children grow, they understand both the extraordinary and the ordinary through fantasy play. It is important for parents, caregivers and teachers to recognise how imaginative play affects the child and what impact it has on the child. By doing this, children can use their imagination to help them think creatively but also critically and realistically. 

About the author 


Krishna Choudhary is a second-year B.Sc. Applied Psychology student at NMIMS. With a keen interest in childhood development and the role of fantasy play, Krishna explores how imaginative experiences shape children's perceptions of reality and the paranormal. Passionate about bridging theory and practice, she aims to contribute to the understanding of psychological growth in early childhood.


References


Berk, L. E., & Meyers, A. B. (2016). Development through the lifespan (7th ed.). Pearson.

Brown, T., & John, D. (2018). Imagination and reality: The role of fantasy play in shaping beliefs. Child Development Research, 23(4), 112–122.

Niemann, F. (2020). Exploring the magical worlds: The impact of fantasy play on children's belief structures. International Journal of Childhood, Family, and Society, 11(2), 55–74.

Parenta. (2019). Keeping it real: The importance of fantasy play in child development. Retrieved from [Parenta](https://www.parenta.com/2019/05/01/keeping-it-real-the-importance-of-fantasy-play-in-child-development/).

Smith, J. (2020). Playing with imagination: The blending of reality and fantasy in childhood. Journal of Child Psychology, 45(1), 33–48.

Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.

Weisberg, D. S. (2015). Distinguishing imagination from reality. In Distinguishing Imagination from Reality (pp. 3-25). ResearchGate. 

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