Fantasy prone personality

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Fantasy prone personality (FPP) is a disposition or personality trait in which a

person experiences a lifelong extensive and deep involvement in fantasy.[1] This
disposition is an attempt, at least in part, to better describe "overactive imagination"
or "living in a dream world".[2] An individual with this trait (termed a fantasizer) may
have difficulty differentiating between fantasy and reality and may experience
hallucinations, as well as self-suggested psychosomatic symptoms. Closely related
psychological constructs include daydreaming, absorption and eidetic memory.

Contents
 1 History
 2 Characteristic features
 3 Developmental pathways
 4 Related constructs
 5 Health and theoretical implications
 6 See also
 7 References

History[edit]
American psychologists Sheryl C. Wilson and Theodore X. Barber first identified
FPP in 1981, said to apply to about 4% of the population.[3] Besides identifying this
trait, Wilson and Barber reported a number of childhood antecedents that likely laid
the foundation for fantasy proneness in later life, such as, "a parent, grandparent,
teacher, or friend who encouraged the reading of fairy tales, reinforced the child's ...
fantasies, and treated the child's dolls and stuffed animals in ways that encouraged the
child to believe that they were alive." They suggested that this trait was almost
synonymous with those who responded dramatically to hypnotic induction, that is,
"high hypnotizables."[1] The first systematic studies were conducted in the 1980s by
psychologists Judith Rhue and Steven Jay Lynn.[1] Later research in the 1990s by
Deirdre Barrett at Harvard confirmed most of these characteristics of fantasy prone
people, but she also identified another set of highly hypnotizable subjects who had
had traumatic childhoods and who identified fantasy time mainly by "spacing out."[4]

Characteristic features[edit]
A fantasy prone person is reported to spend a large portion of their time fantasizing,
have vividly intense fantasies[5] People with FPP are reported to spend over half of
their time awake fantasizing or daydreaming and will often confuse or mix their
fantasies with their real memories. They also report out-of-body experiences.[5]
A paracosm is an extremely detailed and structured fantasy world often created by
extreme or compulsive fantasizers.[6]

Wilson and Barber listed numerous characteristics in their pioneer study, which have
been clarified and amplified in later studies.[7][8] These characteristics include some or
many of the following experiences:

1. excellent hypnotic subject (most but not all fantasizers)

2. having imaginary friends in childhood
3. fantasizing often as child
4. having an actual fantasy identity
5. experiencing imagined sensations as real
6. having vivid sensory perceptions
7. receiving sexual satisfaction without physical stimulation.

Fantasy proneness is measured by the "inventory of childhood memories and

imaginings" (ICMI)[9] and the "creative experiences questionnaire (CEQ).[5]

Developmental pathways[edit]
Fantasizers have had a large exposure to fantasy during early childhood.[1][7] This
over-exposure to childhood fantasy has at least three important causes:

(1) Parents or carers who indulged in their child's imaginative mental or play
environment during childhood. People with fantasy prone personalities are more
likely to have had parents, or close family members that joined the child in
believing toys are living creatures. They also encourage the child who believes
they have imaginary companions, read fairytales all through childhood and re-
enact the things they have read. People who, at a young age, were involved in
creative fantasy activities like piano, ballet, and drawing are more likely to
obtain a fantasy prone personality. Acting is also a way for children to identify as
different people and characters which can make the child prone to fantasy-like
dreams as they grow up. This can cause the person to grow up thinking they
have experienced certain things and they can visualize a certain occurrence from
the training they obtained while being involved in plays.

People have reported that they believed their dolls and stuffed animals were
living creatures and that their parents encouraged them to indulge in their
fantasies and daydreams.[5] For example, one subject in Barrett's study said her
parents' standard response to her requests for expensive toys was, "You could
take this (household object) and with a little imagination, it would look just like
(an expensive gift)."[10]

(2) Exposure to abuse, physical or sexual, such that fantasizing provides a coping
or escape mechanism.

(3) Exposure to severe loneliness and isolation, such that fantasizing provides a
coping or escape mechanism from the boredom.
Regarding psychoanalytic interpretations, Sigmund Freud has stated that "unsatisfied
wishes are the driving power behind fantasies, every separate fantasy contains the
fulfillment of a wish, and unproves an unsatisfactory reality." This shows childhood
abuse and loneliness can result in people creating a fantasy world of happiness in
order to fill the void.[1]

Related constructs[edit]
Openness to experience is one of the five domains that are used to describe human
personality in the Five Factor Model.[11] Openness involves six facets, or dimensions,
including active imagination (fantasy), aesthetic sensitivity, attentiveness to inner
feelings, preference for variety, and intellectual curiosity. Thus, fantasy prone
personality correlates with the fantasy facet of the broader personality trait Openness
to Experience.

Absorption is a disposition or personality trait in which a person becomes absorbed in

his or her mental imagery, particularly fantasy.[12] The original research on absorption
was by American psychologist Auke Tellegen.[13] Roche reports that fantasy proneness
and absorption are highly correlated.[12] Fantasizers become absorbed within their
vivid and realistic mental imagery.

Dissociation is a psychological process involving alterations in personal identity or

sense of self. These alterations can include: a sense that one's self or the world is
unreal (derealization and depersonalization); a loss of memory (amnesia); forgetting
one's identity or assuming a new self (fugue); and fragmentation of identity or self
into separate streams of consciousness (dissociative identity disorder, formerly termed
multiple personality disorder). Dissociation is measured most often by the
Dissociative Experiences Scale. Several studies have reported that dissociation and
fantasy proneness are highly correlated. This suggests the possibility that the
dissociated selves are merely fantasies, for example, being a coping response to
trauma. However, a lengthy review of the evidence concludes that there is strong
empirical support for the hypothesis that dissociation is caused primarily and directly
by exposure to trauma, and that fantasy is of secondary importance.[14]

Health and theoretical implications[edit]

False pregnancy (pseudocyesis). A surprisingly high number of female fantasizers –
60% of the women asked in the Wilson-Barber study – reported that they have had a
false pregnancy (pseudocyesis) at least once. They believed that they were pregnant,
and they had many of the symptoms. In addition to amenorrhea (stoppage of
menstruation), they typically experienced at least four of the following: breast
changes, abdominal enlargement, morning sickness, cravings, and "fetal" movements.
Two of the subjects went for abortions, following which they were told that no fetus
had been found. All of the other false pregnancies terminated quickly when negative
results were received from pregnancy tests.[3]

Maladaptive daydreaming is a psychological disorder, a fantasy activity that replaces

human interaction and interferes with work, relationships and general activities. Who
suffers from this pathology, daydreams or fantasizes excessively, assuming roles and
characters in scenarios created to his/her liking. People who suffer from excessive
daydreaming are aware that the scenarios and characters of their fantasies are not real
and have the ability to determine what is real, elements that differentiate them from
those suffering from schizophrenia.[15]

A 2011 study reports on 90 excessive, compulsive or maladaptive fantasizers who

engaged in extensive periods of highly structured immersive imaginative experiences.
They often reported distress stemming from three factors: difficulty in controlling
their fantasies that seemed overwhelming; concern that the fantasies interfered in their
personal relationships; and intense shame and exhaustive efforts to keep this
"abnormal" behaviour hidden from others.[16]

See also[edit]
 Suggestibility

References[edit]
1. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e Lynn, Steven J.; Rhue, Judith W. (1988). "Fantasy proneness: Hypnosis,
developmental antecedents, and psychopathology". American Psychologist. 43: 35–44.
doi:10.1037/0003-066x.43.1.35.
2. ^ Glausiusz, Josie (2011, March–April). Living in a dream world. Scientific American Mind,
20(1), 24 - 31.
3. ^ Jump up to: a b Wilson, S. C. & Barber, T. X. (1983). "The fantasy-prone personality:
Implications for understanding imagery, hypnosis, and parapsychological phenomena." In, A.
A. Sheikh (editor), Imagery: Current Theory, Research and Application (pp. 340-390). New
York: Wiley. ISBN 0471 092258. Republished (edited): Psi Research 1(3), 94 - 116.
http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1983-22322-001.
4. ^ Barrett, D. L. The hypnotic dream: Its content in comparison to nocturnal dreams and
waking fantasy. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 1979, Vol. 88, p. 584 591; Barrett, D. L.
Fantasizers and dissociaters: Two types of high hypnotizables, two imagery styles. In R. G.
Kunzendorf, N. Spanos, & B. Wallace (Eds.) Hypnosis and Imagination, NY: Baywood, 1996
(ISBN 0895031396); Barrett, D. L. Dissociaters, fantasizers, and their relation to
hypnotizability. In Barrett, D. L. (Ed.) Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy (2 vols): Vol. 1: History,
theory and general research, Vol. 2: Psychotherapy research and applications, NY:
Praeger/Greenwood, 2010.
5. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Merckelbach, H.; et al. (2001). "The Creative Experiences Questionnaire
(CEQ): a brief self-report measure of fantasy proneness". Personality and Individual
Differences. 31 (6): 987–995. doi:10.1016/s0191-8869(00)00201-4.
6. ^ Mackeith, S. & Silvey, R. (1988). The Paracosm: a special form of fantasy. In, Morrison,
D.C. (Ed.), Organizing Early Experience: Imagination and Cognition in Childhood (pages 173
- 197). New York: Baywood. ISBN 0895030519.
7. ^ Jump up to: a b Rhue, Judith W.; Jay Lynn, Steven (1987). "Fantasy proneness:
Developmental antecedents". Journal of Personality. 55: 121–137. doi:10.1111/j.1467-
6494.1987.tb00431.x.
8. ^ Novella, Steven (2007-04-03). "The Fantasy Prone Personality". NeuroLogica Blog. Self-
published. Retrieved 2011-11-13.
9. ^ Myers, S. A. (1983). "The Wilson-Barber Inventory of Childhood Memories and Imaginings:
Children's form [etc]". Journal of Mental Imagery. 7: 83–94.
10. ^ Barrett, D. L. (2010). Dissociaters, fantasizers, and their relation to hypnotizability. Chapter
2, in Barrett, D. L. (Ed.), Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy (2 vols) New York:
Praeger/Greenwood, p. 62 - 63.
11. ^ NEO-PI-R • NEO Personality Inventory - Revised.
http://www.unifr.ch/ztd/HTS/inftest/WEB-
Informationssystem/en/4en001/d590668ef5a34f17908121d3edf2d1dc/hb.htm.
12. ^ Jump up to: a b Roche, Suzanne M.; McConkey, Kevin M. (1990). "Absorption: Nature,
assessment, and correlates". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 59 (1): 91–101.
doi:10.1037/0022-3514.59.1.91. ISSN 0022-3514.
13. ^ Tellegen, Auke; Atkinson, Gilbert (1974). "Openness to absorbing and self-altering
experiences ("absorption"), a trait related to hypnotic susceptibility". Journal of Abnormal
Psychology. 83 (3): 268–277. doi:10.1037/h0036681. ISSN 0021-843X. PMID 4844914.
14. ^ Dalenberg, Constance J.; Brand, Bethany L.; Gleaves, David H.; et al. (2012). "Evaluation
of the evidence for the trauma and fantasy models of dissociation" (PDF). Psychological
Bulletin. 138 (3): 550–588. doi:10.1037/a0027447. ISSN 1939-1455. PMID 22409505.
15. ^ Bigelsen, Jayne; Schupak, Cynthia (2011). "Compulsive fantasy: Proposed evidence of an
under-reported syndrome through a systematic study of 90 self-identified non-normative
fantasizers". Consciousness and Cognition. 20 (4): 1634–1648.
doi:10.1016/j.concog.2011.08.013. ISSN 1053-8100.
16. ^ Somer, Eli (Fall 2002). "Maladaptive Daydreaming: A Qualitative Inquiry" (PDF).

Source
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fantasy_prone_personality
27/3/2019