You may remember that as a child you believed in an imaginary figure like Santa Claus, the Easter bunny, the Tooth Fairy, or a fictional person you created.  Belief in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy varies with a child’s age and the level of parental encouragement of belief. As a child I personally never believed in Santa, the Easter bunny, or the Tooth Fairy because my parents didn’t want to raise me by lying to me or being attached to someone/something imaginary and then be let down when I get older and find out that the “realistic” figures I confided in all those years was just a tremendous lie, full of pain. Although I don’t and didn’t believe in any imaginary figure, I would say it has decreased my creative thoughts compared to someone who did believe in someone like Santa. Past research has shown that kids who create imaginary friends may even enjoy some cognitive and emotional benefits. There are some studies that show they have enhanced social understanding even healthy adults can have imaginary friends, either creating new ones as they age or maintaining characters they made up earlier in life. Positive and negative factors come out of individuals in there early childhood up to their adulthood for those who choose to believe, or not, in imaginary figures.