Learn English – What term means “to imagine one is someone else”

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I am looking for a professional term, used to describe a situation in which a person imagines that they are someone else. E.g., someone playing a first-person game will imagine that they are within the game, and "super-impose" their personality onto that character. Or, a child might imagine they are a superhero from their favorite story and consider what they would do with the superhero's abilities.

The term "role-play" is related, but not precisely what I am looking for. "Role-play" seems to emphasize the "playing" or "acting" aspect. I want a term that just means, "imagining you are someone else".

Best Answer

This can be described as role-projection. I.e. "imagining oneself in the role of another".

This usage isn't common, but it exists in the psychology literature. E.g.:

Hirschman (1983) and others (d'Astous & Deshenes 2005) posit that certain traits can influence participation in fantasy-related consumption behaviours, including role-projection and escapism (i.e., to get away from one's everyday life) or other activities involving visualization. Specifically, an individual's preference for using imagination, can predict a tendency to engage in a certain types of fantasy, including both role-projection and escapism.

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Imaginal Responses mainly refer to role projection and escapism.

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