Imagination in Adults and the Aging Person
Life course psychology has taught us that people change and develop lifelong. Also, imagination plays an important role in the making of our life course, especially in transitions or bifurcation points. However, if imagination has been quite studied in children and adolescents, what about imagination in adulthood and, especially, in older adults? In this chapter, the authors present a model of imagination to be used in the life course. The authors review the literature on aging and identify the role of imagination within it. Finally, the authors discuss an extreme case of development, which comes about when the future seems interrupted because of a trauma. Through the case study of an older woman’s development after the Fuskushima catastrophe, the authors provide a general reflection about the role of imagination in the life of adults and elderly people.