The imagination is central to human social life but undervalued worldwide and underexplored in psychology. Here, we offer Possible Worlds Theory as a synthetic theory of the imagination. We first define the imagination, mapping the mental states it touches, from dreams and hallucinations to satire and fiction. The conditions that prompt people to imagine range from trauma to physical and social deprivation, and they challenge the sense of reality, stirring a need to create possible worlds. We theorize about four cognitive operations underlying the structure of the mental states of the imagination. We then show how people embody the imagination in social behaviors such as pretense and ritual, which give rise to experiences of a special class of feelings defined by their freedom from reality. We extend Possible Worlds Theory to four domains—play, spirituality, morality, and art—and show how in flights of the imagination people create new social realities shared with others.

中文翻译：

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可能的世界理论：想象力如何超越和再创造现实


想象力是人类社会生活的核心，但在世界范围内被低估，在心理学中也未得到充分探索。在这里，我们提供可能的世界理论作为想象力的综合理论。我们首先定义想象力，绘制它所触及的心理状态，从梦境和幻觉到讽刺和小说。促使人们想象的条件范围从创伤到身体和社会剥夺，它们挑战了现实感，激起了创造可能世界的需求。我们理论化了想象力心理状态结构背后的四种认知操作。然后，我们展示了人们如何在伪装和仪式等社会行为中体现想象力，这些行为产生了一类特殊的情感体验，这些体验由他们脱离现实而定义。我们将可能的世界理论扩展到四个领域——游戏、灵性、道德和艺术——并展示了人们如何在想象力的飞翔中创造与他人共享的新社会现实。