Imaginary Companionship and Adult Memory Narratives: an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Imaginary Companionship and Adult Memory Narratives: An Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis Caroline Denise Rond A Thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Oxford Brookes University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The Programme of study was carried out in the School of Education, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Oxford Brookes University. November 2016 This thesis is the result of the author's original research. It has been composed by the author and has not been previously submitted for examination which has led to the award of a degree. The copyright of this thesis belongs to the author under the terms of the United Kingdom Copyright Acts as qualified by Oxford Brookes University Regulation. Due acknowledgement must always be made of the use of any material contained in, or derived from, this thesis. Signed: Caroline Denise Rond Date: November 2016 1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish first and foremost to express my gratitude to the nine participants who shared their stories, thank you for your time and memories. To my research supervisors, Ms Georgina Glenny and Prof Mary Wild, I am so thankful for your unwavering loyalty, guidance and steadfast resolve. My appreciation extends also to Prof Deb McGregor and Dr Annie Haight, post- graduate research tutors for the rigorous facilitation of my annual progress reviews. To my dear friend Caroline, thanks for all your care and support during this project. My dearest parents in South Africa, ‘Once upon a time there was a little girl…’ and she thanks you for the loveliest of childhoods, the warmest of memories. My two brothers who shared this childhood, I love you both dearly. Thank you also to Michelle for a lifetime of friendship and the gift of two little people who I love like my own. Finally, it is with enduring love and gratitude that I express my thanks to Mark. 2 Table of Contents ▪ ABSTRACT .........................................................................................5 ▪ INTRODUCTION ................................................................................6 ▪ Imaginative Play: Framing the Context ...............................................12 ▪ The Child’s Work: Understanding Imaginary Play ............................ 12 ▪ Social Status of Imaginary Play ...........................................................14 ▪ The Imaginary Companion ..................................................................16 ▪ Fantasy Predisposition and Imaginary Companions ............................18 ▪ PERSONALITY CORRELATES…………………………………….20 ▪ Theory of Mind and Imaginary Process ...............................................26 ▪ Self-knowledge and Knowing Other Minds ........................................ 29 ▪ Narrative Ability, and Imaginary Companionship Status .....................32 ▪ HISTORICAL CONTEXT …………………………………………...34 ▪ The Framing of Child and Adult ...........................................................42 ▪ Human Geography: Bachelard, Philo and Jones ...................................44 ▪ Remembering: Research Examples .......................................................47 ▪ METHODOLOGY .................................................................................53 ▪ Tensions………………………………………………………………...55 ▪ Phenomenology…………………………………………………………59 ▪ The Phenomenon Under Investigation ....................................................67 ▪ The Research Tool………………………………………………………72 ▪ Post-Narrative Feedback Form………………………………………….78 ▪ Method of Data Interpretation: IPA……………………………………..80 ▪ DATA INTERPRETATION:……………………………………………85 ▪ Themes: The Relationship Experience .....................................................91 ▪ Social Comparison……………………………………………………….95 ▪ The Imaginary Companionship and Sense of Self. ..................................98 ▪ The Influence of Mother as a Key Figure ................................................102 ▪ The Influence of Others in Memory ........................................................105 ▪ Temporality and Loss ..............................................................................108 ▪ The Memory Experience: ........................................................................110 ▪ DISCUSSION ..........................................................................................118 ▪ CONCLUSION ........................................................................................141 ▪ APPENDICES 1-7 ...................................................................................149 ▪ REFERENCES ........................................................................................186 3 4 ABSTRACT The purpose of this study has been to understand the experience of imaginary companionship through the memory narratives of adults. Following a mid- century lull in research on imaginary companions, contemporary studies have focused primarily on childhood populations. Using correlational methods to draw inference between imaginary companionship status and other developmental facets of childhood these large sample studies have sought links for instance to theory of mind, narrative ability, perspective-taking and creativity. However, as less is known about the personal meanings attached to and the lived experiencing of these early relationships, the study has taken a phenomenological approach. For the nine university students who remembered having had an imaginary companion and who volunteered to share their stories, the aim was to understand the meanings attached to these companionships through idiosyncratic, personal accounts. The delineated phenomenon, ‘the remembered as told’, permitted an understanding of both the experience and its interpretation within a context of intentionality and temporality. The individual narrative interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed for Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA). From the narrative data emerged the following key themes: The relationship experience, social comparison, self- evaluation, the impact of the imaginary companion relationship on identity formation, the influence of mother as a key figure, the influence of others in memory and, the experience of temporality and loss. What is apparent from a collective examination of the narratives is how the imaginary companionship is experienced ecologically in terms of other co- occurring experiences and connections to relationships within the family. Interpretation shows further that the connections include past and present representations of self and that, as a potentially self-defining memory, this special companionship has, for some individuals, facilitated coherence in their evolving life stories. 5 INTRODUCTION The idea for this study grew essentially from an interest in the workings of the imagination, initially from observing children at work and play. Employed in psychological and educational settings, clinics and schools, in Southern Africa and the USA, I consider myself fortunate to have been an observer of children. And so I have for a number of years been intrigued by this thing we term ‘imagination’. All kinds of children in all kinds of settings moving beyond the actual into a place of projected alternatives. The decision to research imaginary companions came about as a result of a graduate childhood studies module, ‘Imaginary Worlds’, and an essay I wrote on young children’s imaginary friends. This would be my first exposure to academic literature on the topic. And as I myself had not had an imaginary companion nor knew of any other family member with one, my first sense of the phenomenon was reliant on my own imaginative faculty and of course the second-hand source material of research articles and text books. The first step towards this current project was the completion of a literature- based dissertation on imaginary companions in 2013, (Way, 2013). Theoretical findings pointed to a most normative and in fact developmentally significant role of the imaginary companion. The paper highlighted the findings of several contemporary studies most notably, the link to theory of mind (Taylor, Cartwright & Carlson, 1993; Taylor & Carlson,1997; Taylor,1999; Taylor, Carlson & Shawber 2007), to ‘cognitive flexibility’ and mental displacement, (Hoff and Carlson, 2002), creativity (Somers & Yawkey 1984;Hoff, 2000; Hoff, 2005; Bouldin,2006), to levels of self-knowledge (Davis, Meins & Fernyhough 2011), richer narrative ability (Trionfi & Reece 2009), and, to ‘referential communication’ skills (Roby & Kidd 2008).The emergent picture was one of children benefitting personally and socially from these relationships and as already highlighted, a fairly common part of early childhood. One of the motivating factors for this current study was a timely reading of Klausen and Passman’s ‘Pretend Companions: The Emergence of a Field’ 6 (2006). Herein the authors have pooled archival material, historical antecedents that have both informed and shaped our current knowledge on this topic. The article, on a personal level, did well to highlight an ontological readiness following what the authors describe as a ‘mid-century lull’. With the emergence of an enthused empiricism came new questions and methods and it appeared, according to the authors, that imaginary companionship had begun taking its place within the broader ambit of developmental psychology alongside other forms of pretend play. As mentioned earlier, the theoretical dissertation was a step towards this current research. However, it was not a step in the same direction. As a theoretical endeavour