Individual differences in children's private speech: the role of imaginary companions.
By Paige E. Davis, E. Meins, Charles Fernyhough. 2013
44 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Relations between children’s imaginary companion status and their engagement in private speech during free play were investigated in a socially diverse sample of 5-year-olds (N = 148). Controlling for socioeconomic status, receptive verbal ability, total number of utterances, and duration of observation, there was a main effect of imaginary companion status on type of private speech. Children who had imaginary companions were more likely to engage in covert private speech compared with their peers who did not have imaginary companions. These results suggest that the private speech of children with imaginary companions is more internalized than that of their peers who do not have imaginary companions and that social engagement with imaginary beings may fulfill a similar role to social engagement with real-life partners in the developmental progression of private speech.
Subfields: Developmental and Educational Psychology, Education, Genetics, Cognitive Science & Psychology
How researchers see this paper
The researchers whose trusted networks rank it highest, strongest advocate first. Every researcher gets a different order.
In Developmental and Educational Psychology
- Ben Alderson-Day
- Charles Fernyhough
- E. Meins
- J. Lidstone
- Christopher Jarrold
- David M Williams
- Simon McCarthy-Jones
- Simon R. Jones
In Education
In Genetics
In Cognitive Science & Psychology
- Ben Alderson-Day
- Charles Fernyhough
- E. Meins
- Simon McCarthy-Jones
- Christopher Jarrold
- David M Williams
- D. Bowler
- J. Lidstone
Citations in the corpus
- Inner Speech: Development, Cognitive Functions, Phenomenology, and Neurobiology (2015, background): “The suggestion of links between private speech and various imaginative and creative activities, such as engaging with an imaginary companion (Davis et al., 2013), also raises the interesting question of whether inner speech plays a similar role in the inner experience of young children.”