Imaginary friends and real world consequences: parasocial relationships, Jennifer Barnes, TEDx OU

Dr. Barnes creates characters as a YA author and studies people as a psychologist, leading her to ask: what are the consequences of the emotions we feel about people who arent real Dr. Jennifer Barnes lives a double life: by day, shes a professor of psychology, and by night shes a YA novelist. These passions have lead her to study the intersection of fiction and cognition. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at