Why Fantasy Is More Important Than You Think

Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and Daniel Radcliffe are shown in a scene from "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2." (AP Photo/Warner Bros. Pictures)

Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and Daniel Radcliffe are shown in a scene from "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2." (AP/Warner Bros. Pictures)

Were you one of many who lined up to see “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows?”

According to Yale University Psychologist Paul Bloom, when we get involved in activities of imagination, whether it be watching a movie or day dreaming, we’re not just wasting time.

Activities in fantasy worlds actually make up our favorite leisure time activity– more than eating, playing or sex.

Paul Bloom explores the power of daydreaming in his book, “How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like,” now out in paperback.

This interview originally aired on 8/9/10.

Guest:

Paul Bloom, Yale psychologist and author

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We welcome comments from all of our listeners. Post below. Please stay on topic and be civil. Comments may be moderated by us, but you are solely responsible for the content of your comments.

Debrabroz

I just heard Robin Young say that if early humans spent too much time daydreaming they might “get eaten by a dinosaur”. Please- we all know that humans and dinosaurs didn’t exist at the same time- I am sure it was just a faux pas but we all, as smart people, should try our best not to support or back obvious untruths.
- Robin
  
  thanks for spelling correction! As we said we only focused on two
  chapters of his book,
  sorry if that was a surprise! And whatever I
  said regarding dinosaurs and humans, I KNOW they didn’t co exist!!! Hey
  wait a minute what about Jurassic Park?!
  All best
  Robin
- Anonymous
  
  I didn’t know she was trying to get the Republican nomination.
Michael

I listened to this interview and then read the description of the author’s book on Amazon. It does not seem that he spent as much time in the book discussing imagination and fantasy as set forth by the host. Can someone who has read the book help my understanding of this? I am very interested in imagination and how it contributes to society and evolution, but not necessarily in what disparate things humanity finds pleasurable.
Anvor

I listened to the wonderful interview and thought of the Albert Einstein dictum – “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly speaking, a real factor in scientific research.”

It’s good that the author seems to back it up. I also hope he tried to falsify it and see what happens…

Andrei Vorobiev
FallibilityManagement.com
Guest

its Deathly Hallows not Deathly Hollows.. :/
- Anonymous
  
  Thanks, we’ve made the correction. -Jill Ryan, H&N
Rcyoung

thanks for spelling correction! As we said we only focused on two chapters of his book,
sorry if that was a surprise! And whatever I said regarding dinosaurs and humans, I KNOW they didn’t co exist!!! Hey wait a minute what about Jurassic Park?!
All best
Robin
Robin

Thanks for spelling correction! As we said we only focused on two chapters of his book, sorry if that was a surprise! And whatever I said regarding dinosaurs and humans, I KNOW they didn’t co exist!!! Hey wait a minute what about Jurassic Park?!

All best
Robin

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