Fantasy Orientation Questionnaire - Coursework Example

Fantasy Orientation Questionnaire Table of Contents 2. Introduction 3. What is Fantasy Orientation? 4. Vitality of Measuring Fantasy Orientation in the Current Context 5. Literature Review 6. Problems in Current Fantasy Orientation Measurement Method 7. Advantages of Inference Oriented Tests 8. The Evaluation of the Questionnaire 9. Strengths and Weaknesses 10. Checking the Relevance through an Experiment 11. Findings and Recommendations 12. Conclusion 13. The Questionnaire 14. References Abstract Creating a questionnaire to measure fantasy orientation in children is rather an interesting task. We all have heard stories, believed in fairy god mothers, feared monsters and waited eagerly for the Santa. Have you ever wondered when we started distinguishing the reality from the fantasy and how stopping being a child influenced our growth. The purpose of the fantasy orientation questionnaire is to explore the same with the help of relevant literature and various scholarly researches. This essay starts with a critical discussion of what Fantasy orientation is, drawing significant points from various studies conducted on the matter. It continues to conduct an elaborate research with a group of 50 pre-school and kinder garden children aged 2 to 5. It presents arguments on how this questionnaire is relevant in measuring the fantasy orientation among children effectively than other methods. Introduction The ability to distinguish between what is fantasy and what is reality is one of the most basic human cognitive functions; it signifies an understanding of what is ‘real’ and ‘not real’. However there are certain individuals who are geared more towards a greater affinity for the imaginative and the creative. This affinity or gearing towards getting lost in fantasy or towards a high level of imagination is what is known as fantasy orientation, it is often seen as a measure of how much an individual sees themselves as discerning between reality and fantasy. Children have often observed the confusing boundary between reality and perception (Piaget 1930). Dawkins (1995) held that children don’t only confuse fantasy and perception but the tangible and intangible, drams and reality since a very young age. This influence of children’s perception is palpable in their early education, media programming and the behavior of adults with them. Designing a good questionnaire to measure the same and proving is relevance by conduction proper evaluation on its weaknesses and strengths is the key aim of the paper. What is Fantasy Orientation? Fantasy orientation is the inclination towards an imaginary world which gives comfort and solace. Some children are able to draw immense morals from the stories heard and apply the solutions given in the fairy tales to the day to day, while many build a distinct barrier between the story world and the human world. The nature of finding more and more succor in the fantasy world is known as fantasy orientation. Very limited studies have been conducted about the link between the development of cognitive ability of a child and its fantasy orientation. It is a common complaint that children who have high level of fantasy orientation tend to shut themselves away from the world. It is also well known such children have immense creativity. Schools have started to use such measures increasingly these days. But, the methodology used to test the students and determine their capability remains highly questionable as it leaves the young child frightened and tired most of the time. Vitality of Measuring Fantasy Orientation in the Current Context With day to day competition achieving pinnacle like never before exploring the part fantasy orientation plays in developing a child’s skill is immensely vital. It will help us understand various child learning disabilities like ADHD better. The current methods used to measure Fantasy orientation often involve both kids and the adults. The children are usually made to answer a questionnaire, interviewed personally or made to play with certain blocks. Their ability to garner information from the stories told is also assessed. The most commonly followed method to measure Fantasy orientation are the impersonation interview developed by Taylor and Carlsons (1997) and Singers (1981) Imaginary Play Predisposition. The reliability of these methods had been proven empirically. The FO measurements have helped several children dealing with psychological issues perform better. They have also helped the child researchers and parents identify and nurture the talent of certain children from a very young age. These measurements play a key role in channelizing a child’s efforts towards what it is naturally interested in. Literature Review Large scale research exhibits that children, are able to make significant distinctions between reality and non-reality even from the young age of three (Estes & Wellman 1986, Woolley, 1990). Children can go so far as to even discuss the differences between real, tangible elements and fantasy, intangible ones. They can follow pretend transformations and slip in and out of interrupted fantasy play easily. Taylor (1997) displayed depictions of both fantasy and real pictures of animals to a group of three to five year olds and asked them to classify the depictions into real and fantasy. This experiment was along the same lines conducted by Samuels and Taylor in 1994 which found that the discretion of children in classifying the scenes as real or fantasy depended upon their perception of things as threatening or non-threatening. These findings imply a greater role of emotion in the perceptual and cognitive functions of children and bear potential for more research into the measurement of the fantasy orientation of children. Richert & Smith (2011) conducted a study which involved 33 children in the three to five years category. Half the children were told a story about a fantasy world involving an evil robot and astronauts, while the rest were told a story about two body dodging a babysitter. The basic story line was the same, retrieving an object without the villain noticing it. After the session the children were questioned to ensure whether they understood it fully. Then they were given a real life scenario to solve which required the use of same tactics as used in the story. The children who heard realistic stories were able to solve the issue much better than the ones who heard the fantasy stories. Nearly 1.36% of children who heard realistic stories solved the issue compared to the 0.64% of children who heard fantasy stories. The experiments were repeated with a set of 51 pre-school children and the results were again the same. The researchers conclude children have little ability to link the fantasy world and the real world thereby proving they are well capable of distinguishing the reality from the reel. An elaborate research conducted about the link between the executive functions development and fantasy orientation in a child b y Jillian M. Poerrucci (2014) and group concluded, there is direct link between the FO constructs and the Childs ability. They researched nearly 106 students for years and submitted their updated paper on January, 2014 which states "FO constructs are uniquely related to specific executive functions, such that there are potentially specific developmental benefits to being a fantasy-oriented child (i.e., inhibition and attention shift positively related to fantastical cognitions)." Problems in Current Fantasy Orientation Measurement Method Categorization of tasks in prior research methodologies was overly simplistic, ignoring the more complex and complicated readings of the feelings and understanding of children involved. This was also aided by the fact that children make greater progress and reveal far more information when they are examined via their ability to make inferences rather than simple question and answer methods (Gelman 1987). The different tasks for testing include presenting children with line drawings of various entities as previous research shows that children respond and rationalize differently about generic fantastical elements (Angels and monsters) as compared to specific entities or specific events such as the Easter bunny. The method of fantasy orientation method made children feel like they are taking another examination. Fantasy involves several features starting from color and music to several other details which enhance creativity and imagination. The current methods used to measure FO are outdated though empirically proved. The evolution of the children’s IQ in the past four decades is not taken into account in these methods. They neither make use of the major educational tool advances of the contemporary days nor create questions and interviews which are appealing to children and allow them to draw their own conclusions. Preparing an inference oriented questionnaire will solve this issue once for all. Advantages of Inference Oriented Tests In an inference revealing test for example, children are taught the property of an object and are then tested over the level to which they generalize that property. This method has been proven to be highly effective in revealing the complexity and depth of children regarding such concepts. Under this light, it is entirely possible that children who fail to make the proper labeling and categorization according to adult standards of real and not real may still recognize those differences in terms of their own abilities, this however has not yet been explored. Previous research does point out to some extent that at least part of this knowledge is in play, specifically in regards to the ideas that children have about the different kinds of things that distinguish real and non-real entities, as in their properties, what real and non-real things can or cannot do, children further along can differentiate real and non-real entities based on their properties alone, for instance, children of age 4-5 they can understand the physical properties of real and tangible objects and entities, such as the difference between living and dead, real and non real. Children thus may not be able to distinguish between adult concepts of real and not real but they have remarkable grasp of what it means to be human and non-human. This discrimination only grows stronger as they age. The Evaluation of the Questionnaire The questionnaire prepared by the research team after much assessment of the current methods used to evaluate FO and the questionnaires used by them is presented in the appendix. This questionnaire was prepared bearing in mind three main points. Making the questionnaire as short as possible as its target audience are children aged two to five. Designing the questionnaire in such a way inference plays a major role in it. Children should feel attractive and familiar to the objects and images present in the questionnaire. This will make them take the test with interest and without fear. Only day to day objects and figures they see are used in the questionnaire. The questionnaire presented below addresses all these three major points. Strengths and Weaknesses The questionnaire is completely visual. All the questions contain images with characters well familiar to the children. Only a handful of images are used repeatedly in all the questions to avoid confusion from the children’s part. The language is made as simple as possible. They are no major big words whatsoever. The children just need to tick the correct boxes and write 1, 2 or 3. Even yes or no questions are avoided keeping in mind the ease of usage. The children filling up the questionnaire will never feel they are being evaluated or taking a test. They will simply feel like enjoying themselves with some fun activity. This free mentality is important to draw the right answers from them. The length of the questionnaire is both its major plus point and minus point. It covers all the important aspects of differentiating between the reel and the real world. But, it fails in addressing the individual fantasy orientation limits due to its limited length. It also minimizes the response methods used which makes the questionnaire quite simple. Checking the Relevance through an Experiment The relevance of obtaining the correct FO measurement scores using this questionnaire was checked in a university attached crèche. 50 children aged two to five were selected for the process and the care takers were asked to get the questionnaire filled by the students in a group. All the children were handed over the question sheet together and they filled it out in half an hour under the supervision of the adults. The operation was fun filled and cheerful throughout. The children’s parents were duly informed about the experiment, but the children did not have any clue as to what they were doing. After the process was over and evaluated, the children were given the previous questionnaire usually used to determine the FO level in each child. The children started getting serious and questioning the adults about various parts they did not understand. Only a handful of them completed the questionnaire with the 13 questions within the given time, while the others still sat confused or stuck up in with certain questions. Interviewed personally after the two experiences, most felt, they have taken only one exam that day and it was hard. Comparing the results of both the FO questionnaires through Hierarchical linear regressions we could see the results were more or less the same. The children had immense ability to distinguish between the fantasy and the real life characters. Children aged two to three showed slight confusion regarding certain questions like ‘which amongst this can fly’ featuring a bird picture and ‘which can you touch’ showing a Santa. They simply said they have touched and felt Santa in the supermarket and in the church. Nearly 94% of the children were clear as to which objects were real and which objects are fantasy. Findings and Recommendations The results collected from the traditional FO questionnaire form also showed similar results with a slight variance of 2% decrease. The main are of concern is the children’s struggle in completing both the questionnaires. Nearly 15 out of the chosen 50 were not able to complete the traditional question paper on time and 4 out of them were not able to complete it even after grace time due to its length and complexity in understanding. A child cannot be branded simply as a dull one or the one with limited fantasy orientation just through a few tests. But, making the testing experiment a fun filled one will enable the children to open up more and express themselves in a much better way. The purpose of this project was to create a more sophisticated yet engaging FO measurement questionnaire. The results show the research team had succeeded in doing the same. With FO measurement becoming increasingly relevant for several talent assessments at kinder garden level, we can only hope this questionnaire help the scholars researching in the area further to gather reliable results from the children. Conclusion This fantasy orientation measurement questionnaire was created giving ample importance to the limited understanding and memory capacity of the tender target audience. The images were selected after careful evaluation of their popularity, their familiarity with the target group’s age and their overall simplicity. The words in the questions were made as simple as possible to enhance clear understanding. The answering system included only ticking the relevant images and writing the numbers. This reduces the children’s stress to remember and recollect much. The questions were chosen giving much importance to inference. The children working on the questionnaire will be required just draw their own conclusions based on personal experiences. The research team believes many such questionnaires will be developed in the future, making life a bit easier for the children taking too much pressure than their age. The Questionnaire 1. Who comes only in stories and TV? Whom do you meet daily? 2. Who can fly? Who cannot? ------------------ 3. Who falls down and get hurt? 4. Who doesn’t grow old ever? ------------ 5. Who can you touch? ------------- 6. Tick only the real ones References 1. Dawkins, R. (1995). Putting away childish things. Skeptical Inquirer. 2. Gelman, S. A., & Markman, E. M. (1987). Young children’s inductions from natural kinds: The role of categories and appearances. Child Development. 1532–1541. 3. Piaget, J. (1930). The Construction of Reality in the Child. New York: Basic Books. 4. Pierucci, M. J., OBrien, T.C., Gilpin, T. A., Barber, B.A., McInnis, A. M. (2014). Fantasy orientation constructs and related executive function development in preschool: Developmental benefits to executive functions by being a fantasy-oriented child. The University of Alabama. 5. Richert, R., & Smith, E. (August, 2011). Fantasy-prone children struggle to apply lessons from fantasy stories. Research Digest. Retrieved 17th April from the Research Digest Website: http://bps-research-digest.blogspot.in/2011/08/fantasy-prone-children-struggle-to.html 6. Singer, D. G., & Singer, J. L. (1981). Television, Imagination and aggression: A study of preschoolers. Hillsdale: Erlbaum. 7. Sharon, T., & Woolley, D. J. (2004). Do monsters dream? Young children’s understanding of the fantasy/reality distinction. The Universtity of Texas. 8. Taylor, M., & Carlson, S. M. (1997). The relations between individual differences in fantasy and theory of mind. Child Development. 436–455. 9. Wellman, H. M., & Este s, D. (1986). Early understanding of mental entities: are examinations of childhood realism. Child Development. 910–923. 10. Woolley, J. D., & Wellman, H. M. (1990). Young children’s understanding of realities, non-realities, and appearances. Child Development. 946–961. Read More