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Imaginary friends could strengthen social behaviour

11.10.2025

Translation: machine translated

Parents often worry when children invent playmates. But that's not a bad thing. On the contrary: the imaginary companion probably helps them on their way.

An imaginary friend may help children to develop a better understanding of the thoughts and feelings of those around them. This is suggested by a study published in the «International Journal of Psychology». Invented playmates could promote the so-called theory of mind - the ability to recognise mental states in oneself and others.

Researchers led by psychologist Qiyi Lin from the Chinese Huaiyin Normal University followed 104 preschool children over a period of 13 months. At the beginning and end of the study, they recorded whether the children had an imaginary companion - an invisible friend or a cuddly toy that they treated like a living being. Around halfway through the observation period, the team tested how well the children had mastered social thinking - with classic tasks on understanding false beliefs and recognising emotions. There was also a language test. For example, the children listened to the story of a person who was lied to about their birthday present and were asked to work out exactly what the person knew about their present. They were also asked to guess the feelings of figures in small drawings and choose the right picture from four images for terms such as «elbow».

Children with imaginary companions performed better on average in the tests. They were more likely to recognise complex thoughts and feelings and had a larger vocabulary than those without an imaginary friend. Conversely, however, there was no indication that children with comparatively advanced Theory of Mind developed a fantasy friend more frequently in the coming months. A good 30 per cent of the children had such a friend at the first measurement point, and slightly more than 40 per cent at the second survey.

The results of the longitudinal study therefore indicate that an imaginary friend promotes the development of the theory of mind, and not the other way round. Playing with an imaginary friend could therefore be a training ground for social skills, where children can practise taking on other perspectives and resolving conflicts without risk - skills that are also crucial in real-life relationships.

However, this finding is not unambiguously causal: it is also possible that children who are particularly gifted in language or naturally imaginative have more imaginary companions and perform better in the tests. In this case, the imaginary friend would not be the cause, but rather a companion to positive development.

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