Imaginary Friends

Last week in class we discussed the functions of play for social development. After leaving class, I realized that although we talked a lot about imaginary play, we never talked about imaginary friends. My big question was whether imaginary friends can fulfill the same type of social role as we discussed in class. I never had an imaginary friend, so I’m not privy to how those relationships function. Fortunately, my partner did have an imaginary friend growing up (though he was only willing to share so many details, even in the name of purely educational purposes and not even an ounce of mockery). Because we learned that social relationships are how we interiorize signs and organize cultural activities, I was skeptical whether imaginary friends could serve that purpose since it is not exactly a social relationship. When I asked Jed, however, he said that he had two sided conversations with his imaginary friend. Although this removes the possibility for new ideas that others introduce in peer play, he still practiced cultural ideas, concepts and signs he observed elsewhere, and I would presume it aided his organization and understanding of the world. Jed engaged in these two-sided conversations out loud occasionally, but otherwise it stayed in inner speech. Due to this, I wonder whether the relationship with his imaginary friend impacted other social relationships with real people. If, for example, you have a friend who completely understands everything you say and do (because they aren’t real… lol) does that make it more challenging when facing conflict in actual social relationships? How might this affect a child’s ability to use language effectively if speech to an imaginary friend is perfectly predicated, but then with other friends the child suddenly has to converge on a sense of meaning in play activities? Given how much we’ve discussed about the complexities of making inner speech social speech again, I am curious how having an imaginary friend could impact other social relationships.