Biography
Marjorie Taylor is Professor of Psychology at the University of Oregon. Her research focuses on the development of pretend play and imagination in children. In particular, she has studied the phenomenon of imaginary companions and her work on this topic is summarized in her book Imaginary Companions and the Children Who Create Them (Oxford University Press, 1999). In the Imagination Lab, Dr. Taylor is currently working on the development of a reliable and valid measure of individual differences in fantasy (The Fantasy Assessment Project), piloting a method for investigating how children use imagination to cope with stress and difficult life situations (The Coping Study), and exploring the phenomenology of elaborate fantasy in adults (The Authors Project).
Interests
imaginary friends, gardening, scientifically accurate fabric brain art, cooking