Psychologists recognize that there is great variation in the propensity of people to fantasize.
At the extreme end:MANY people occasionally turn off the drab or irksome realities of the day through fantasy. But some people, a fascinating minority, spend most of their waking lives lost in a fantasy world, leaving it to join the common reality almost as a visitor.
http://www.nytimes.com/1987/12/15/scien ... ntasy.html
Bold addedWhile nearly everyone fantasizes from time to time, the extent to which some people engage in Walter Mitty-like dreams sets them apart. These are adults who seem never to have left behind the child's fascination with fantasy. ''The fantasy-prone are completely immersed in their imaginary world, intensely involved,'' said Steven Jay Lynn, a psychologist at Ohio University. ''These are not ordinary daydreams.''
At times their fantasies are so vivid that these people are not sure where imagination ends and reality begins. But by and large the fantasies seem to be beneficial. ''The fantasies offer a welcome relief from the sturm und drang of life, or from banality,'' said Dr. Lynn.
http://www.nytimes.com/1987/12/15/scien ... ntasy.html
Bold added.A fantasy prone person is reported to spend a large portion of his or her time fantasizing, have vividly intense fantasies, have paranormal experiences, and have intense religious experiences. The fantasies may include dissociation and sexual fantasies. People with FPP are reported to spend over half 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.
Absorption is a disposition or personality trait in which a person becomes absorbed in his/her mental imagery, particularly fantasy. This trait thus correlates highly with fantasy prone personality. The original research on absorption was by American psychologist Auke Tellegen.] Roche reports that fantasy proneness and absorption are highly correlated. Fantasizers become absorbed within their vivid and realistic mental imagery.
http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Fantas ... ersonality
Associated with FPP
Absorption: A personality trait in which one becomes absorbed in their mental imagery; when objects of focused attention gain importance, intimacy, and a self-like quality. This focused attention can cause one to enter an altered state of consciousness. People with this trait have heightened hypnostability. Research has shown that people with high-absorption rates incorporate into their senses subtly imagined events.Â
Absorption allows for surreal vivid experiences in which one can become immersed in an experience in which something they intensely focus on whether it be a work of art or a bowl of corn flakes becomes important, intimate, and mystical.
http://weirdcommunity.wikia.com/wiki/Ab ... chology%29
Extreme fantasizers may be much more likely than non-extreme people to (among other things):
experience their fantasies as real
have very vivid sensory experiences
have vivid memories
report having out-of-body or floating experiences
claim to have healing powers;
think they've encountered spirits or ghosts
Perhaps inclination to fantasize can be viewed as a continuum from low to high, with most people somewhere between. We may see examples of various continuum positions in posts to these threads – with some apparently well toward respective ends. Differences may increase difficulty in communication.
Can absorption / fantasy be related to religious belief?
Is fantasizing about religious subjects significantly different from fantasizing about other topics?
