Pit crew pumps up Duck men | 7
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Since 1900 | Volume 106, Issue 76 | Monday, January 10, 2005
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University professor Marjorie Taylor compares children
and their pretend friends to authors and their characters
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BY MORIAH RALINGJT
NEWS REPORTER
Some parents might find it bizarre if their child was
friertds with a 160-year-old world traveler, or a dragon
that reads the legends of King Arthur or a pair of birds
that bicker incessantly.
But University psychology professor Marjorie
Taylor, who recently published an article on chil
dren and their imaginary companions, said it’s
common for children to have these sorts of
unusual imaginary friends. In fact, Taylor’s
study shows that the phenomenon occurs in
children much older than experts initially
expected, and in some cases, in adults.
“What we found is that by the age of 7,
children are just as likely to have an imag
inary companion (as when they were
younger),” Taylor said.
Before Taylor’s research, psychologists
typically assumed children stopped having
imaginary companions around age 4 or 5,
but the only research done on the subject
was with children with psychological
problems. In the mid-1990s, Taylor in
terviewed a sampling of normal 3
and 4-year-olds and then checked
up with them three years later. Her
results were surprising.
“Sixty-five percent of children
have a history of play with imagi
nary friends,” she said. “So it’s a
lot more common than we ex
pected.”
The study also found that children
with imaginary friends tend to
jV' are more frequently created from scratch in the
zSTAJF child’s imagination.
MjFjr “There’s incredible diversity in the form the
Wfr friends take,” she said. “It’s true that they’re some
** times adopted, but mostly they’re
idiosyncratic characters that you’ve
never heard of.”
Taylor encountered a number of
interesting characters in the course
of her study, including “Cream,” a
palm-sized baby, and “Elephant,”
an elephant that wears tank tops
and shorts.
Liesel Sylwester, now 15
years old, participated in the
study when she was 7 and
described “Simpy,” an in
visible girl with blue skin
and funny clothes. In ret
rospect, Sylwester said
she felt like the impetus
for “Simpy” was the study
itself and she’s not sure if “Simpy”
was a genuine imaginary friend.
Sywester said she lost interest in “Simpy” soon
after die study was completed.
“I remember getting tired of it because you had to
make up both sides of the dialogue,” she said. “I figured it
would be easier just to talk to someone.”
The study found that many children had
conflicts with their imaginary friends, as if they
were acting autonomously. One girl complained
that “Elephant” was occasionally mean to her.
“They have a sense of independence,” Taylor said. “How
is it possible cognitively to create an imaginary friend and have it
lldVC IllUIt? dU VdllUtru SUCldi UI1"
Children drew these depictions of
their imaginary friends during
Marjorie Taylor’s study.
derstanding” than children without imaginary friends.
“Mostly there were no differences, but (the study’s
findings) tend to favor the ones that have them,” she
said. “Children with imaginary friends seem to be bet
ter equipped to understand that other people are not
exactly like themselves.”
According to the article, published in Developmental Psy
chology, the composition of the imaginary companions
changed as the children got older. The study
found that younger children are more likely to
have imaginary companions based on props,
such as when a child animates a stuffed animal or
toy. But as children grow older, companions are
more likely to be purely imaginary.
Taylor could find no pattern regarding the com
panions themselves, and while the characters are
occasionally inspired by television or movies, they
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This question was the segue into Taylor’s new project: She ex
amines how fiction writers create their characters and how these
characters develop a sense of independence from their creators.
In an article published in 2003 in Imagination Cognition and Per
sonality in conjunction with Universi
ty associate professor of psychol
ogy Sara D. Hodges and
former University master’s
student Adele Kohanyi,
Taylor described a phe
nomenon called the
illusion of inde
pendent agency.
“The illusion
of independent
agency occurs
IMAGINARY, page 4
Neighbors formulate ambitious agenda
Reopening the park and preserving trees are among the issues
the West University group will address in the upcoming months
BY MEGHANN M. CUNIFF
SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
Increasing student involvement in the neigh
borhood. Reopening the neighborhood park.
Preventing the unnecessary removal of trees. Ex
amining the effects of University development
on the surrounding neighborhoods. If all goes as
planned, the West University Neighbors will
have a busy year.
The association had its first meeting of the
year last Thursday at Central Presbyterian
Church, where the executive board worked with
about 10 neighborhood and community mem
bers to draft a plan for the coming year.
Board members had drafted a list of pressing
neighborhood issues at an executive meeting the
night before and presented Thursday’s meeting
attendees with the opportunity to add to the list
and highlight issues they thought should receive
priority at the association’s upcoming meetings.
Protecting trees received the most attention
from both the board and the general population.
“We need to defend our trees,” board
chairman Drix Rixmann said. “These things
represent time. ”
The group decided to devote the Feb. 3 meet
ing to discussing tree protection and the need to
reopen West University Park, closed since 1995.
Board Vice Chairpersons and University stu
dents Kellyn Gross and Ayal Alves will head up a
tree committee to create a list of specific trees
neighbors are concerned about and draft ideas
about what can be done to prevent unnecessary
tree removal.
City Planner Steve Gallup had good news
for those concerned about tree removal, say
ing during his update on the alley paving
project that the majority of trees once
marked for removal because of the project
could be saved because contractors will be
NEIGHBORS, page 4
University
acquires
arena site
funding
BY MEGHANN M. CUNIFF
SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
The University is one step closer to acquir
ing the Williams’ Bakery site after the Legisla
tive Emergency Board approved the use of up
to $27.4 million in state-backed bonds for a
land acquisition that University President
Dave Frohnmayer describes as “a once-in-a
century opportunity.”
The decision came Friday morning after the
Legislative Emergency Board Education Commit
tee approved the acquisition under the circum
stance that no funds will be used to finance
whatever is done with the site.
“This is a really big day in the history of the
University," Frohnmayer said later on Friday.
The University has wanted the site for many
years, Frohnmayer said, and the $25 million
price-tag is a reflection of the property’s value to
the University. An additional $2.4 million may be
used to buy the 7-Eleven store site and the Vil
lard medical building located behind the bakery.
“Land is always worth what a willing buyer
and seller is willing to pay,” Frohnmayer said,
adding that “no one in the world” wants the
Williams’ Bakery site more than the University.
Paying $25 million for the site is necessary be
cause of the University’s respect for the bakery
and its hundreds of employees, Frohnmayer
said. About $17 million of the $25 million will
pay for the bakery’s relocation costs.
“They really care about their employees,”
Frohnmayer said. “It’s a burden for them to
move but they wanted to be a good neighbor.”
Frohnmayer said it may be possible to lower
the site cost by refusing to fund the bakery’s relo
cation, but it would cost the city more than 200
family-wage jobs and the University does not
want to do that.
The University hopes to build a new basket
ball arena on the site but has not secured the
necessary funds for such a project, which
Frohnmayer said will mostly come from
alumni donations.
The University of Oregon Foundation, a pri
vate, nonprofit corporation set up to receive and
distribute private donations to the University,
will create a separate organization to handle the
arena’s funding.
Legislative committee members questioned
during the Friday meeting whether the potential
transportation problems an arena would pose to
the surrounding neighborhood had been exam
ined and told Frohnmayer that the University
will have to present a plan to the board on how it
will mitigate such problems before arena con
struction can begin.
Frohnmayer said that would not be a problem
for the University. He added that the committee
was mostly concerned that state funds not be
used in the construction of the arena.
Legislative Fiscal Analyst Steve Bender said
the legislative board was checking to see that
the University had examined the fiscal impact
of using the extra bonds and was merely "ex
ercising its responsibility of oversight of state
public operations.”
The next step in the land acquisition process
is to sign a formal sale agreement with United
States Bakery, the company that owns the site,
and then decide what to do with the land,
Frohnmayer said.
The site has been the targeted site for the new
arena since plans for the Howe Field location fell
through last spring — plans that University Vice
President of Administration Dan Williams said
ARENA SITE, page 5