Caliban has a conversation with his imaginary friends in Folger Theatre's production of Shakespeare's The Tempest.
假想朋友（英文：Imaginary friend）也稱為假裝朋友、隱形朋友或虛構朋友，是一種心理和社會現象，其友誼或其他人際關係發生在想像中，而不是外部物理的現實世界中。儘管對於創作者來說，他們看起來很真實，但是孩子們通常都知道，他們的想像中的朋友不是真實的。據信，最初針對假想朋友的研究是在1890年代進行的。對於兒童假想朋友的出現和成長相關的訊息很少。然而，克勞森和帕斯曼（Klausen and Passman(2007)）報告說，假想的朋友最初被描述為超自然的生物和靈魂，被認為可以將人們與他們的前世聯繫起來。歷史早期的成年人擁有家庭神和守護天使之類的實體，還有充當虛構伴侶的繆斯女神，為創作工作提供舒適，指導和靈感。最終，想像中的同伴現像傳給了孩子們。兒童開始與虛構的朋友交往的時代是未知的，但這種現像有可能出現在19世紀中葉，當時人們強調將童年作為遊戲和想像的重要時間。
參見
參考資料
延伸閱讀
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- Imaginary Friends with Dr Evan Kidd （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆） podcast interview with Dr Evan Kidd of La Trobe University