Characteristic features
Fantasy prone persons are reported to spend up to half (or more) of their time awake fantasizing or
daydreaming, and will often confuse or mix their fantasies with their real memories. They also report
out-of-body experiences, and other similar experiences that are interpreted by the some fantasizers as psychic (parapsychological) or mystical.
[3]
A
paracosm is an extremely detailed and structured fantasy world often created by extreme or compulsive fantasizers.
[5]
Wilson and Barber listed numerous characteristics in their pioneer study, which have been clarified and amplified in later studies.
[6][7] These characteristics include some or many of the following experiences:
- excellent hypnotic subject (most but not all fantasizers)
- having imaginary friends in childhood
- fantasizing often as child
- having an actual fantasy identity
- experiencing imagined sensations as real
- having vivid sensory perceptions
- receiving sexual satisfaction without physical stimulation
Fantasy proneness is measured by the "inventory of childhood memories and imaginings" (ICMI)
[8] and the "creative experiences questionnaire (CEQ).
[9]