This study examined preschool children's concepts of relationships with imaginary companions and real people, using the notion of social provisions, or types of social support and interactions. Four-year-olds were interviewed about social provisions--power, conflict, nurturance, and instrumental help--present in relationships with parent, best…

Synergistic psychology has been proposed as a meta theory for synthesizing different psychological theories into an explanation of how social, cognitive, and biological factors interact in human behavior. The basic theoretical assumption in synergistic psychology is that internalized social interactions become higher mental functions that regulate…