Fantasy Proneness: Developmental Antecedents

Fantasy Proneness: Developmental Antecedents Judith W. Rhue University of Toledo

Steven Jay Lynn Ohio University

ABSTRACT Wilson and Barber (1981) identified a "personality type" charactenzed by an extensive and deep involvement in fantasy that they termed "fantasy prone personalities " This study investigated the developmental antecedents of fantasy proneness as part of a larger research project designed to exanune the construct validity of the fantasy prone personality Fantasy prone (n = 21, upper 4% of college population), medium range (n = 20) and nonfantasy prone persons (n = 18, lower 4% of college population) were selected with the Inventory of Childhood Memones and Imaginings (Wilson and Barber, 1981) Subjects completed quantitative pencil and paper measures of early life expenences and participated in individual semistructured mterviews Strong support for the construct validity of fantasy proneness and confirmation of previous findings regardmg the developmental antecedents of extensive adult fantasy involvement were secured While six fantasy prones reported being severely physically abused dunng childhood, abuse was not reported in other groups Fantasy prones also reported greater frequency and seventy of physical punishment, greater use of fantasy to block the pam of punishment, more thoughts of revenge toward the person who punished them, greater loneliness, and a preference for pumshing their own children less severely than did the companson groups, suggesting compensatory and adaptive functions of fantasy mvolvements In a ground-breaking paper, Wilson and Barber (1981) descnbed their serendipitous discovery of a fascinating group of individuals whom they termed "fantasy addicts" or fantasy prone personalities Based upon then- intensive mterview study of excellent hypnotic subjects, Wilson and Rartions of this paper were presented at the meetmg of the Southeastern Psychological Association, March 1985, Atlanta, GA, and at the meeting ofthe Society for Clinical and Expenmental Hypnosis, October 1983, Boston, MA Requests for repnnts should be sent to Judith W Rhue, Department of Psychology, University of Toledo, Toledo, CHiio, 43606 Joumal qf Personality 55 1, March 1987 Copynght © 1987 by Duke Umversity PtBss CCC 0022-3506/87/$! 50

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Barber concluded that fantasy prone persons displayed a unique constellation of personality traits and expenences, the most central of which was an extensive and deep involvement in fantasy that could be traced to childhood In addition to being hypnotic "virtuosos," the fantasy prones also reported fantasizing a large amount of the time, psychic and out-ofbody expenences, the ability to vividly hallucmate objects and fully expenence what they fantasize (e g , ability to achieve orgasm in the absence of physical stimulation, and physical manifestations and concomitants of observed violence on television and the movies), and occasional difficulty in differentiating fantasized from non-fantasized events and persons Such expenences were reported with greater frequency by the 27 fantasy prone women than by the 25 nonexcellent (poor, medium, and medium-high susceptible) hypnotic subjects with whom they were compared In addition to discemmg a hypothetical personality syndrome, Wilson and Barber's research identified multiple and diverse developmental antecedents to fantasy proneness that are, more generally, consistent with research findmgs m the areas of hypnosis and fantasy Specifically, Wilson and Barber identified the following childhood expenences as pathways to fantasy proneness in later life Encouragement to Fantasize from a Sigmficant Adult The adult was frequently a parent, grandparent, teacher, or fnend who encouraged the reading of fairy tales, reinforced the child's make-believe and fantasies, and treated the child's dolls and stuffed animals m ways that encouraged the child to believe that they were alive Other research also provides clear support for the facilitation of the expression of fantasy m young children by reinforcement and exposure to an adult model (Bandura, Ross, & Ross, 1961, Jalongo, 1984, Klinger, 1969, Manosevitz, Prentice & Wilson, 1973) Children's "imitative" play appears to be an important foundation for the later development of lmagmative behavior Hilgard's pioneenng study (1970, 1974, 1979) at Stanford Umversity first forged the link between imaginative mvolvement and hypnosis, and drew attention to the role of parental interest and encouragement of certam behaviors and fantasy involvements that were associated with the development of lmagmation, hypnotic susceptibility, and creativity m children Hilgard also noted that individuals with a history of imaginative mvolvements and more contemporary mvolvements m sensory expenences, readmg, religion, and adventure were more likely to be good hyp-

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notic subjects than persons who did not report comparable expenential mvolvements Baum and Lynn (1981) found that high susceptible college students tended to report more involvement in high than m low imaginative reading matenal, more recently, Snodgrass and Lynn (1984) found that high susceptible subjects reported more imaginative involvement m classical music pieces than did low susceptible subjects These findings confirm Hilgard's (1970, 1974) observations and supplement earlier investigations (O'Hara & Munger, 1962, Fellows & Armstrong, 1977, Lee-Teng, 1965, Shor, One, & O'Connell, 1962, Spanos & McPfeake, 1975, Tellegen & Atkinson, 1974) that reported an association between hypnotic susceptibility and adult imaginative involvements Special Life Situations that Foster Extensive Involvement in Fantasy that Begins Early in Life and Contirmesfor Years (This includes such activities as ballet, piano, or dramatics ) Although Hilgard (1970) and others (Lee-Teng, 1965, Sarbm «fe Lim, 1963, Shor, 1960) have noted that involvement m dramatic arts and role-takmg ability descnbe more high than low susceptible subjects, there is a paucity of systematic research that examines the relationship between special life situations and adult imaginative involvements Fantasizing due to Loneliness, Isolation, and to Escape an Aversive Environment Many of the fantasy prones studied by Wilson and Barber perceived themselves as having been lonely and isolated as children and felt that fantasy helped them to cope with their isolation and provided companionship and entertainment Many years ago, Freud (1908) noted that "unsatisfied wishes are the dnvmg power bdiind fantasies, every separate fantasy contains the fulfillment of a wish, and unproves an unsatisfactory reality " More recently, attention has been drawn to the adaptive and defensive function that fantasy may serve m children who expenence significant failure, frustration, or limited contact with other children or adults (Fraiberg, 1968, Freyberg, 1973, Overstad, 1981, Piaget, 1951, Tower, 1982) A number of women interviewed by Wilson and Barber reported stressful early lives that mcluded physical abuse and a parent who deserted the family or who had severe emotional problems Not uncommonly, fantasy was used as a means of escape from their harsh physical and psychological envn-onments Wilson and Barber's observations of these excellent hypnotic subjects are consistent with Hilgard's findmgs that hypnotic susceptibility appeared to be positively related to seventy

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of punishment dunng childhood Nash, Lynn, & Givens (1984) found that the majonty of subjects who reported being physically abused as children were also high susceptible hypnotic subjects The present research represents an attempt to build upon the exploratory research of Wilson and Barber (1982) and the research program of Hilgard (1965, 1979) by providing descnptive data that will further delineate the early hfe experiences of subjects who are termed fantasy prone personalities The scope of our investigation will be limited in its focus on the three pathways to adult fantasy proneness descnbed above, some of the avenues to adult fantasy involvement that have been reported m the literature such as early attachment behavior (Stroufe, 1979) and level of adult-determined activity (Carpenter & Huston-Stein, 1980) will not be explored The research reported in this paper is part of a larger project designed to examine the construct validity ofthe fantasy prone personality Unlike previous research, we began not with excellent hypnotic subjects but with carefully selected fantasy prone subjects The present research departs from previous mvestigations by including companson groups of subjects who are clearly nonfantasy prone, as well as subjects who fall m the middle range of fantasy proneness This permits afineranalysis of the extent to which fantasy prone persons' developmental expenences differ from the general population versus individuals who are at the opposite extreme of the fantasy/imagination continuum The present research should also help to assess the degree of generahzability of Wilson and Barber's preliminary findings to the general population in another respect Rather than relying upon a select sample of highly educated female subjects, mostly drawn from the ranks of workshop participants and therapy clients, our research uses male and female college student volunteers Wilson and Barber were able to discern a number of developmental antecedents which they identified with fantasy proneness However, the absence of quantitative measures of their constructs of punishment, the use of imagination/fantasy as a "coping mechanism," loneliness, parental encouragement of imaginative activities, and so forth, limits both the precision of their findings and the conclusions about the distmctiveness of the fantasy prone group relative to the companson group In this study, quantitative measures of early life expenences were used that are relevant to the domams of parental encouragement of fantasy, punishment, compensatory uses of fantasy, play activities, involvement m "special activities," and loneliness, these measures were sub-

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jected to multivanate statistical procedures in order to bring the emerging picture of fantasy proneness into sharper focus If fantasy prone subjects emerge as a distinct group on these measures, it would provide strong support for the construct validity of fantasy proneness METHOD Subjects Thirty male and twenty-nine female subjects received money or course credit for their participation Subjects were selected from a group of 1,403 students screened with the 52-item Inventory of Childhood Memones and Imaginings (ICMI) of Wilson and Barber (1981) Based on their ICMI scores, subjects were divided into high fantasy prones (12 females and 9 males), medium fantasy prones (13 females and 7 males) and low fantasy prones (11 males and 7 females) The high and low fantasy groups represented the upper and lower four percent, respectively, of the population tested These cntena were based on Wilson and Barber's contention that their high fantasizers represented the upper four percent of the population Subjects were deemed high fantasy prones with ICMI scores of 37 or better (range 37 to 50, M = 42 34, SD = 2 17), or low fantasy prones with ICMI scores of 10 or less (range 4 to 10, M = 7 45,5Z) = 3 55) Medium fantasy prones were randomly selected from individuals tested who attained scores between 11 and 36 (M = 23 16, SD = 3 55)

Characteristics of the Fantasy Prone Sample Subjects were tested on several widely used measures of imagination and absorption theoretically related to fantasy proneness, including the TellegenAtkmson Absorption Scale (Tellegen & Atkinson, 1974), Betts Vividness of Imagery Scale (Sheehan, 1967), Creative Imagination Scale (Wilson & Barber, 1978), Harvard Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility Form A (Shor & Ome, 1962), Revised Art Scale (Welsh & Barron, 1963), and participated in lengthy interviews (range 1 to 5 houilj /^Tigh fantasy prones were found to score significantly higher than others on all of these measures (Lynn & Rhue, 1986) Fantasy proneness correlated with all of these measures at 05 and beyond (two-taried correlations) with the exception of hypnotizability (p < 06) However, nearly 80% of the high fantasy prones were high in hypnotic susceptibility (Harvard Scale scores of 9-12) Medium and low fantasy persons did not differ m their hypnotizability Subjects filled out the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) at home and returned them at their next session All three groups produced technically valid profiles Fantasy prones produced an MMPI profile with an 8-9 code type

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These were the only two clinical scales with mean evaluations over 70 T for any of the groups (mean Schizophrenia (8) = 86 T, mean Hypomania (9) = 78 T) In a separate session, subjects received the Rorschach test Based on Exner's (1986) sconng system, analysis of the Rorschach protocols revealed that fantasy prones differed from others only in terms of productivity of ideation and hostility (Ehzur's [ 1949] sconng system) They did not differ from others on measures of reality testing and pathological ideation processes Univanate analysis of vanance performed on subjects' official grade point averages revealed no differences between the groups Subjects also participated in lengthy semistructured interviews designed to more clearly assess the extent of their fantasy involvement None of the fantasy prones reported psychiatric hospitalizations or exhibited psychotic-hke symptoms during the interview Again, high fantasy prones exhibited greater fantasy involvement based on greater self-reported past and present imaginative activity Expenmenters (5 male and 5 female clinical psychology graduate students trained in administration of the semistructured interview) were not given any information regarding the subjects' group designation Materials Screening Measures The Inventory of Childhood Memones and Imaginings (ICMI) IS a 52-item, dichotomous, paper and pencil questionnaire developed by Wilson and Barber (1981) The major purposes of this inventory are to determine what percentage of adults remember themselves as very imaginative dunng childhood, what kinds of childhood imaginative activities and fantasies are remembered, and how and to what degree imaginings affect adult expenences or constitute a part of adult functioning The scale appears to have adequate validity in that it has been found to correlate with the Tellegen-Atkinson Absorption Scale (r = 81, p< 001, Tellegen & Atkinson, 1974), the Creative Imagination Scale (r = 30, p< 001, Wilson & Barber, 1978), and the Betts Vividness of Imagery Scale (r = 31, ;? < 001, Sheehan, 1967, Lynn, Nash, Rhue, Frauman, & Sweeney, 1982) The reliability coefficient (Kuder-Richardson) of a standardization sample of 1,337 individuals, ranging m age from 8 to 19 years was determined to be 89 Retest reliabilities reported a range from 87 (N = 104, M retest interval 2 5 days, Meyers, 1983) to 93 (n = 59, M retest interval 10 2 days, Lynn, et al , 1982) Dependent Measures Parental Encouragement and Play Activities The measures of parental involvement included three items on an untitled questionnaire on child-

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hood experiences administered in a group context These items were (a) When I was a child, my parents frequently read stones, poems, or fairy tales to me, (b) When I was a child, my parents often encouraged me to read stones, and (c) When I was a child, my parents often encouraged me to imagine things Subjects rated their responses on a 1 to 5 Likert-type scale (1 = never, 3 = occasionally, 5 = almost always) The measure of play activities mvolved three items rated by the subject dunng the semistructured interview These items were (a) As a child, how much did you like to play alone'' (b) As a child, how much did you like to play with fnends'' and (c) As a child, how much did you play make-believe games'' Subjects rated their responses on a 1 to 7 Likert-type scale (1 = little, 4 = moderately, 7 = much) Special Life Situations Based on the reports of early life involvement m activities such as ballet, piano, or dramatics by many of Wilson and Barber's high fantasy prone subjects, four items designed to assess such special life situations were included on the questionnaire of childhood expenences These were (a) Have you ever taken music, art, dance, or acting lessons'' (yes/no), (6) If so, which one''(c) At what age did you begin''and ( ^ How many years did you continue'' Loneliness Isolation, or an Aversive Environment The following measures of loneliness and early home environment were included on the untitled questionnaire of childhood experiences (a) As a child, I frequently felt lonely (1 = never, 3 = occasionally, 5 = almost always), and (b) While many factors need to be considered, how would you generally rate your home environment while growing up'' (1 = frequently very unpleasant, 3 = neutral, 5 = mostly warm and pleasant) Dunng the interview session, subjects estimated the frequency of physical punishment they received from ages 3-5 and from 6-10, and the total number of instances of broken bones, bleeding, and bad bruises resulting from punishment dunng childhood Subjects were considered as physically abused if they met both of the following cntena (a) they rated their punishment as very harsh or resulting m bruises, scamng, or broken bones (ratings of 6 - 7 on a 7-ponit Likert-type scale), and (b) they recounted instances of punishment resulting in bruises, bleeding, or bone fractures in response to questions dunng the structured mterview Dunng this session, subjects also rated on Likert-type scales (1 = little, 3 = moderately, 7 = much) how much they knew about why they were hit, if they were hit when they thought they were being good, if they tned to use imagination to block the pam of punishment, and if they imagined getting back at the person who hit them Finally, subjects rated both the frequency and seventy with which they punish their own children relative to then- own upbnnging (1 = less frequent/ severe, 2 = as frequent/severe, 3 = more frequent/severe)

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Subjects initially filled out the ICMI m groups rangmg m size from 50 to 100 people They were told that the questionnaire related to an ongoing research project dealing with personality and early life expenences Subjects who scored in the top four percent, the bottom four percent, and subjects randomly selected from the remaining 92 percent were then contacted by research assistants and invited to participate in "a study ofpersonality" It was explained that the study would involve several sessions and require about 8 to 10 hours of then- time Pnor to participating in the study, subjects were asked to read and sign a consent form Subjects who agreed to participate were scheduled in random order for the following sessions a hypnosis session in which subjects also filled out the Tellegen-Atkinson Absorption Scale, a second ICMI (to provide data on test-retest reliability), a scale of social desirability (Crowne & Marlowe, 1960), used as a statisitcal covanate, and the Betts Vividness of Imagery Scale, a Rorschach session, a semistructured mterview session, a group session m which subjects were given the Creative Imagination Scale (untitled) and the questionnaire on childhood expenences, and a session for a reading absorption task designed to replicate Baum and Lynn (1981) At the time of the lmtial phase of the study, subjects were asl^d to fill out a sheet requesting demographic data, and were given an MMPI test booklet and answer sheet to take home,fillout, and retum at the time of a subsequent session The questionnaire on childhood expenences was composed of items suggested m the literature to be correlated with adult fantasy involvement It was untitled, and was presented to subjects as "a questionnaire on childhood expenences " The semistructured interview was administered to subjects individually by graduate students trained in its presentation This interview was designed to validate subjects' fantasy prone status and elicit information regardmg a subject's childhood, relationship with his or her parents, fnendships, history of punishment, and so forth The entire interview session was recorded on audio cassette tapes Subjects were asked to be objective about both past and present events, and strong demands for honesty were stressed For data reported herein, subjects rated their responses on 1 to 7 Likert-type scales Upon completion of all phases ofthe expenment, subjects were given then- course credit or paid their money by a departmental secretary After receiving their credit or money, subjects were asked to fill out a bnef questionnaire askmg what they thought the study was about, what they thought the hypotheses were, and how they felt their ideas about the study might have affected then* performance In addition, arrangements were made for subject bnefing on the expenment's results followmg completion of the study

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Analyses of variance were performed to examine whether the high, medium, and low fantasy prones differed on demographic vanables including age, G P A , number of siblings, and years between the subject and the closest sibling Results revealed no differences among the groups on any of these vanables

Postquestionnaire Data Fifty-three of the subjects filled out the postquestionnaire, while six other subjects failed to complete it The six subjects were approximately equally distnbuted across the three groups of subjects None of the subjects correctly identified the hypotheses as (a) a study of fantasy involvement, (b) a study of how fantasy related to hypnotic ability, creativity, imagery, and absorption, (c) a study of developmental antecedents of fantasy proneness, or (d) a study of the relationship between fantasy proneness and psychopathology Subjects' responses as to what the study was about were categonzed as follows personality (17 subjects), hypnosis (13 subjects), imagination (12 subjects), childhood expenences (7 subjects), creativity (2 subjects), don't know (2 subjects) Eighty-seven percent of the subjects (n = 46) stated that they believed their ideas about the study did not affect their answers Of the remainder, five subjects were unsure if or how their ideas about the study might have affected their answers, and two failed to address the question as asked The five subjects were evenly distnbuted across the three groups

Statistical Analyses With the exception of data on special life situations, all data were analyzed using 3 (high, medium, low fantasy proneness) x 2 (male, female) multivanate analyses of vanance (MANOVA's) Univanate analyses of vanance and posttests (Newman-Keul's) were performed where appropnate Chi-square analyses were performed for data on childhood involvement in special life situations (e g , art, dance, music, and dramatics) The MANOVA performed on the childhood punishment data yielded significant results for the level of fantasy proneness, F(18,88) = 2 51, p < 002 Examination of the results revealed differences in the frequency of physical pumshments received per month from ages 3 to 5,

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F(2,53) = 4 32, p< 02, and ages 6 to 10, F(2,53) = 3 73, p < 03 Post-tests indicated that the high fantasy prone subjects reported more physical punishment from ages 3 to 5, (p < 05), and from ages 6 to 10, (p < 05), than did the medium or low fantasy prone subjects, who did not differ from each other Umvanate analyses also revealed differences between the groups on the contmgency of physical punishment, F(2,53) = 6 08, p < 004, the seventy of pltysical pumshment, F(2,53) = 3 40, p < 04, and how they would handle the punishment of their own children, F(2,53) = 14 70, p < 001 The high fantasy prone subjects reported being hit more even if they were being good, ( p < 01), being punished more severely, (p < 05), and felt that they would pumsh their own child less severely, ( p < 01) The medium and low fantasy prone subjects did not differ on these three measures The three groups did not differ on knowing the reason why they were being hit, or on the frequency with which they would punish their own children Examination of univanate analyses also revealed differences between the groups m their use of lmagmation to block the pam of punishn^nt, F(2,53) = 14 59, p < 001, and on their thoughts of revenge, F(2,53) = 9 59, p < 001 The high fantasy prone subjects reported more use of their lmagmation to block the pam of punishment ( p < 01), and more thoughts of revenge (p < 05), than did the companson groups The low and medium fantasy prone subjects did not differ m their use of lmagmation to block the pain of punishment, although the low fantasy prone subjects reported more thoughts of revenge than the medium fantasy prone subjects (p < 05) Means and standard deviations are presented m Table 1 There was no main effect for subject sex and no mteraction The MANOVA performed on data relatmg to parental encouragement and childhood play activities yielded main effects for level of fantasy proneness, F(16,90) = 4 77, p < 001, and subject sex, F(8,46) = 2 50, p < 024 Univanate analyses revealed that the groups differed on the measure of parental encouragement to read stones, F(2,56) = 703, p < 002 High fantasy prone subjects reported more encouragement to read than low and medium fantasy prone subjects ( p < 01), who did not differ The three groups did not differ in terms of how much their parents read to them or encouraged them to imagine Univanate analyses also revealed differences among the groups in how much they liked to play alone, F(2,53) = 9 91, p < 001, how much they

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Tobtol Means and Standard Deviations of Punishment, Parental Encouragement, and Ctiildhood Play Measures

Low M SD

Fantasy proneness Medium High M SD M SD

Punishment Seventy (age 0-12) Frequency (age 3-5) Frequency (age 6-10) Reason hit Hit if good Punish own kids (frequency) Punish own kids (seventy) Block pam Revenge

2 87 1 37 1 88 644 1 11 1 86 1 90 1 71 2 23

1 26 1 18 2 37 1 14 33 23 20 1 06 1 64

2 73 204 2 57 6 20 1 07 200 200 1 03 1 03

1 29 390 2 27 6 33 2 83 5 56 1 10 6 01 27 2 16 00 1 70 00 1 43 13 3 55 13 3 27

1 96 9 32 6 41 155 1 76 72 51 2 35 2 19

2 25 2 13 6 24 2 37 4 33 2 88 6 25 409

78 95 5 97 2 68 86 1 79 93 1 85

244 2 02 8 80 4 28 3 82 3 09 5 73 3 98

92 2 76 99 3 16 5 53 8 18 304 5 33 1 15 3 62 1 14 504 1 16 4 63 1 52 6 26

1 41 148 4 49 4 01 1 56 1 62 1 94 83

Parental encouragement and childhood play Read to by parents Encouraged to read Encouraged to imagme Loneliness Home envu-onment Play alone Play with friends Play imaginary games

liked to play with fnends, F(2,53) = 6 10, p < 004, how much they hked to play imaginary games, F(2,53) = 16 13, p < 001, and in reported loneliness, F(2,53) = 3 90, p < 026 Posttests indicated that, as children, high fantasy prone subjects liked to play alone more (p < 01), play with friends less (p < 01), and play imaginary games more (p < 01) than did the medium or low fantasy prone subjects, who did not differ on this measure High and medium fantasy prone subjects did not differ from each other on the measure of reported loneliness but they reported more loneliness than did low fantasy prone subjects (p < 05) Univanate analyses for sex effects revealed that sex differences occurred on only one measure, that of playing imaginary games, F(l,53) = 7 46,

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p < 009 Posttests revealed that females reported greater likmg for playing imaginary games than did males (p < 01) No significant mam effects were observed for subjects' ratings of the positivity of their early home environment No interactions were significant in the analyses Chi-square analysis revealed no differences between the groups in having taken art, dance, or music lessons as children Umvanate analyses of vanance also revealed no differences between the groups on the age at which they began these lessons, or on the number of years they continued Pfearson produdt moment correlations performed to exarmne the relationship between seventy of punishment and encouragement to imagme, encouragement to read, or bemg read to revealed no relationship between these vanables DISCUSSION

This study provided strong support for the construct validity of fantasy proneness and confirmed previous findings regardmg the developmental antecedents of intensive and extensive adult fantasy involvements Unlike earlier research, we selected subjects who vaned across the spectrum of self-reported fantasy and imaginative involvement Fantasy prone subjects were distinguishable from subjects in the companson groups by their responses to a vanety of measures of fantasy, imaginative involvement, and hypnosis, and by their histones of intensive and extensive mvolvement in fantasy dating back to childhood as revealed m mterviews Most pertinent to this mvestigation, however, is the findmg that over a range of measures pertaining to punishment, loneliness and isolation, and preference for imaginative games, fantasy prone subjects were found to differ from both medium and nonfantasy prone subjects The medium and nonfantasy prone subjects responded m a comparable manner on virtually all of these measures In addition, no consistent pattem of sex differences was discerned, only one measure distmgmshed male and female subjects Hence, the fantasy prone subjects emerged as a distinct group, buttressing the construct validity of fantasy proneness, and extending the generalizability of earlier findings to male and female subjects selected from a college population Rsriiaps the most interesting and consistent findmgs were secured on

the measures ofthe recollection of punishment, subjects' mterpretation of their pumshment, and reported fantasy activities related to pumshnrent Six of the fantasy prone subjects reported being severely physi-

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cally abused as children (e g , bruises, bleeding, or broken bones), none of the other subjects reported a comparable level of abuse In addition, across all of the age ranges sampled, fantasy prones reported a greater frequency and seventy of physical punishment than did the companson groups These data provide strong confirmation of the more anecdotal findings of Wilson and Barber (1981) and the research of Hilgard (1974, 1979) with subjects selected on the basis of their responsivity to hypnosis The overall pattem of results is congruent with the view that fantasy may serve an adaptive, adjustive function for individuals who have expenenced significant frustration, depnvation, and aversive environmental contingencies (e g , Freud, 1908, Singer, 1973) In addition to the clear group differences that emerged on the physical punishment measures, high fantasy prones reported being hit more even if they were good, that they used their imagmations more to block the pam of punishment, and that they had more thoughts of revenge toward the person who punished them Fantasy prones also reported that they would pumsh thenown children less severely than did the companson groups, although no group differences emerged with regard to the frequency of punishment of their children Fantasy prones did not differ from the companson groups m terms of knowmg the reason why they were hit, afindingwhich suggests that even parents who rely on relatively greater use of physical punishment may stnve to convey a rationale for such pumshment to their children Despite reporting greater abuse and physical punishment and a greater use of lmagmation to cope with pam, fantasy prones and other subjects did not differ m then- ratings of the positivity of then- early home envn-onment Thus, it may be the case that the development and cultivation of imaginative tendencies and abilities serve a functional role m mmimizmg physical and psychic pam and in preservmg a relatively positive view ofthe abusive environment Reports by fantasy prones of greater loneliness, of enjoying playmg imaginary games more, and of enjoying playing alone more and with friends less than did subjects m the other groups also suggest that lmagmative mvolvemraits serve a compensatory and adaptive function for this group Further, in another phase of this study, reported elsewhere (Rhue & Lynn, 1986), fantasy prones were found to project more hostility m relation to Rorschach test responses, although then- level of anxiety and reality testing did not differ from the other groups Fantasy prones also produced MMPI profiles that, at the very least, were suggestive of con-

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flict, alienation, and highly unusual expenences Taken together, our results are consonant with Kns's (1952) concept of adaptive regression and his hypothesis that some individuals (e g , fantasy prones) may evidence pronounced tendencies to use fantasy adaptively to cope effectively and to channel ego dystonic impulses, utilizing imagination and fantasy as an integral part of then- day-to-day functiomng Measures of parental encouragement to fantasize or special life situations that might foster extensive involvement m fantasy as developmental antecedents of fantasy proneness did not discnminate among the groups Although fantasy prones reported more parental encouragement to read stones than did the other subjects, it is important to note that the question did not specify "imaginative stones," and thus cannot be interpreted as direct encouragement of imaginative pursuits It should be noted that although group differences were not discemed, some fantasy prone subjects did report an extensive history of parental encouragement and involvement in such activities Future research should address whether group differences will be revealed when a broader range of measures of parental behaviors and interpersonal relationships are evaluated such as secunty of attachment (Stroufe, 1979) Our findings suggest that parental encouragement and severe punishment may constitute essentially separate pathways to fantasy proneness, although some overlap between the two situations exists Of the eight fantasy prones who reported parental encouragement to imagine, only two reported punishment severe enough to be considered abusive Conversely, of the SIX fantasy prones who reported abuse, only two subjects reported encouragement to imagine at or above the midpomt ofthe scale Correlations between seventy of punishment and encouragement to read or imagine among high fantasy prones also revealed no relationship between the vanables However, it may be that aside from severe pumshment, a number of situational factors mteract to foster fantasy proneness Overt and covert parental discouragement of extensive and deep fantasy involvements, though not assessed in the present research, may charactenze relatively nonfantasy prone persons Indeed, the interviewers were as impressed by the nonfantasy prone subjects' emphasis on logical, rational and analytic thought processes and on embracmg a "realistic attitude" toward life goals as they were by the fantasy prone subjects' descnptions of the profound role of fantasy m their lives Before concludmg, it is important to note a number of limitations of the present research Like other studies m this area, the reliability of the

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data IS limited by the retrospective nature ofthe study Many ofthe questions posed to subjects required that they report or make judgments about expenences that occurred many years earlier Future research should attempt to exanune the vanables descnbed herein with actual children who differ in their degree of fantasy proneness It can also be argued that the reports of fantasy prone subjects are less rehable because then- "fantasy proneness" is conducive to distortions and elaborations of their expenences Whereas this is a possibility, it is important to note that the interviewers placed strong "demands for honesty" and objective reporting on all subjects, that fantasy prone subjects did not differ from other subjects on a measure of social desirability, and that subjects were generally unable to identify the specific hypotheses ofthe study In addition, the findings of this research are consistent with other studies in this research area, and have a high degree of mtemal consistency Moreover, there is no reason to assume that fantasy prone subjects would be motivated to present themselves as suffenng greater punishment, for example, than would other subjects The fantasy prone subjects did not appear to have manifest problems in reality testing, a finding that was corroborated by Rorschach testing findings (Rhue & Lynn, 1986), and by the fact that the college grade point average of fantasy prones was indistinguishable from that of the companson groups However, it is important to resist the temptation to generalize the present results beyond the population tested Fantasy prone college students may represent a particularly well-adapted group of individuals who manifest a deep and extensive history of fantasy mvolvements The study of other populations in our society and cross-cultural research should be undertaken to evaluate the robustness and the possible vicissitudes of fantasy proneness

REFERENCES As, A , O'Hara, J W, & Munger, M P (1962) The measurement of subjective expenences presumably related to hypnotic susceptibility Scandanavian Joumal qf Psy-

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