Psychology related to dolls

This hobby is all about the artistic creativity aspect for me. I am childfree by choice and have a husband, friends, and pets that I excercise my nurturing side with. I don't get how some adult collectors feel an emotional bond with a piece of resin and it becomes like a person to them, but whatever floats your boat. Now, I do create characters for my dolls and that inspires me in the styling aspect of displaying them and photographing them. I flat out enjoy the process of making this generic doll into something that is aesthetically pleasing to me and expresses my artistic vision and individuality.

I am an only child that spent lots of time entertaining myself and inside my own head. I am very comfortable in that place and am glad I have a way to further explore that.

 

That's an interesting theory--- maternal instincts and all that. But I don't think it applies to me because I already have 2 babies, and I don't intend to have anymore for a long time. It's already more than I can handle. Me wanting dolls has nothing to do with me wanting kids. If there's any psychological reason for me collecting dolls, it would be that I feel like I need a second childhood because my first childhood wasn't that pleasant.

 

I think it's interesting that a lot of posters view not wanting kids as evidence that the dolls aren't an outlet for parental instincts. If anything, I wonder if it's the exact opposite--people who don't want kids still have that nurturing/loving/controlling instinct, and the dolls can provide an outlet for that.

It's obviously not the sole, or even the primary reason why we might love BJD's, but it's one possibility. It depends a lot on the doll. I definitely feel motherly about the little girl and little boy dolls--not so much with the 70 cm "grown-ups"!

 

I dunno... I just sort of think its cross between never having grown out of playing with toys and having a pet that doesn't poop everywhere.

If you think about it in the pet way - the cost doesn't seem so bad after all does it? Puppies cost heaps more! (So do kids I guess)

 

I got my doll mostly to have some company (like a friend)

 

sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.


I AM a mom... and the doll that I "fell in love with" is a grown up. Oddly, even though my pukipuki LOOK like kids, and sometimes dress very kidlike. I think of them as fairies or pixies of some kind, NOT children.

I do think that the doll hobby covers a wide range of interests even beyond the dolls themselves.
I like doing detail work, sewing, knitting, beadwork, making toys etc... If I wanted to make some of the same costumes (or buy the same costumes) at human size, the cost for materials, or the finished items would be incredible. But I CAN do it, if I do it at doll scale!


...AND it's never too late to have a happy childhood.
(wondering if some of the "hate children" people had a difficult childhood... it's hard to get over some of the things that hit us when we're young.)

 

I think many men, like the friend psychologist, interpret behavior differently than women. Its easy to explain away a complicated set of creative/emotional processes for having a doll as 'maternal behavior'. Old school baloney.

 

lol maternal feelings for dolls? when the collector is a guy is what?
I think when a female or male collector start to talk or call his/her dolls as daughter/son ...
is a replacement for something... unfortunately dolls cannot feedback.
I never talked to mine and i don't address to them as daughter (male perspective).

 

That's hilarious because I don't like children. Especially babies.. *shudders*..

 

I don't really like most children (at least not the loud and hyperactive ones), but have a quite childish mind. People wouldn't guess that on first glance, some people I know since a long time haven't even figured it out yet, but I definitely have some very childlike features in my personality. So my love to dolls surely is related to that.

 

Well this is a very old thread but one thought came to mind,
would your friend (is he still a friend?...) still have the same
viewpoint on ALL of us doll owner's if he met any others IRL?
I doubt it, but if he still insisted on believing dolls= maternal
needs or instincts I'd have to say he knows very little about
psychology. I could say more but I'll be nice. But in my own
opinion Men make the worst "shrinks".

I like dolls because they are beautiful. I appreciate the work
that went into creating them. I enjoy buying clothes and wigs.
IF I truly wanted kids I'd have them already, so my dolls are
not my way of settling for what I want but cannot have.
Except for the fact that I love grey resin and human babies just
don't come in that color, at least not naturally. Also I don't baby
my dolls....that's what I have my Cats/Dog & Birds for.

It might be true for some doll owners/collectors but there's nothing
wrong with it, we all have to find our ways of coping and dealing
with life and doll collecting is the lesser of many evils out there.

 

This thread has been interesting!

I think the child-hate thing is mostly a reaction to the whole "you have dolls because you want kids" comment. Even the people who had kids where answering that... as in "no, I had kids. Kids and dolls are not the same."

The actual psychology behinds it, if researched by someone with a little more sense than the guy in the OP, who has pretty much sunk my opinion of psychologists, joking or not... A well-informed bit of research would be interesting.

I think many people are into dolls because they are creative, imaginative, artistic types who find they can express those things with dolls. I'm an artist. I like making up characters and stories, although I'm not much of a writer. I like fashion, clothes, hairstyles, colors, styles. I like character-driven stories--so characterization is important.

I like miniature things. The amazingly cool shoes and fashions in a mini size just fascinate me!

I love beautiful things. I love artwork. I love historic period clothes. I like styles. I like things from other cultures. I love playing. --dolls can be a part of all that.

I socialize well enough, so I'm not looking for friends. But hey, if you're feeling lonely and dolls can help--I can understand that. If nothing else, they can be a fun way to pass the time.

I do not have children and never really was all that maternal. I don't hate children... I can relate to them pretty well. And I love my nephew (he's currently 12) and I smile at babies 'cause they will smile back so delightedly. I like more mature dolls. I just find them more interesting. And I do like male dolls a bit more than female (although I have both--and anthro tinies, too. geesh... I wonder what weird thing THAT means!).

I don't currently have a pet... I'm just not that into taking care of things. Although I have had pets in the past and love them.

I can understand the "I hate kids" folk as well as those who love kids.

It's been interesting to see what others have thought about why they like dolls--I've been interested in seeing that I'm definitely in a group I can relate to, for the most part. (Politics and non-doll things aside, of course!)

I'm sure it's very true that it's a complex thing, the reason why we have dolls, that varies with individuals and can encompass all sorts of things. Hey, I probably have a bit of ocd or whatever else might come into it... but whatever it is... storytelling, collecting, loving beautiful things, appreciating art, control, just playing with toys and having fun, or doing something your friends are doing, or doing something no one else you know is doing... I don't think it matters all that much. As long as it's not hurting anyone and as long as it's a positive thing--it's good and healthy, and it'd be nice if people wouldn't keep making silly snap judgments about it.

People love doing all kinds of strange or common things, after all.

But the discussion has been fun.

 

A kid. A friend. A company. A god complex.
Some say it's a sexual issue...

In my case I aways collected things.
I love beautiful things. I like painting, drowning, literature and all kinds of art.
I don't even need to say Ijust fell in love with BJD.

Love them and I don't regret expending time and money on it. And maybe I do have a God complex too because I like to controll my characters XD ( I aways wrote lots of historys and stuff).

About the mom/company issue... I have my 2 cats u_u that I love very much! *I'm too young to think about marriage and kids...*

 

I My God-Complex

 

LOL If my mom ever read this, she would agree with your friend. She sees me playing with my dolls all the time and got fed up with me. Then I get lectures and lecture about its time for me to grow up and stop spending money on "stupid dolls" when I should be getting married and having kids of my own. I told her off. If I want to have kids at my age, I would adopt one by now. I don't see how dolls "make" someone "maternal" just because you sit there for hours doing their face ups or making them look pretty.

Everyone has their "reasons" why they are into this hobby. Not because you have a maternal urge or anything.

 

I love hearing theories on why people do what they do. I, myself, have thought into why I like dolls so much and it all stems to my friend/company issues. I've always been sort of withdrawn at the same time love to have company and talk to people. It gets kind of complicated finding people who understand and don't mind that about me. My mom and freinds I do have compare me to a cat. If I want a attention I will come to you but other wise leave me alone. lol.

Dolls are perfect for me in that sense. They are also a great creative outlit. It's a heck of a lot easier making an outfit for someone smaller than you. A little fabric goes a long way for a little body. lol

And if I happen to freak some people out along the way? Well, that's just an amusing bonus ;P

 

I am a mother of actual living children. I'm a bit older than many members of this board though I know there are older members as well. I think I fall somewhere in the middle. I'm not a teenager and I didn't start collecting dolls as one. I'm a settled wife and mom (well sort of). Parenting and the dolls are two totally separate things for me. I did not choose to parent because I wanted to, it was something that sort of just happened. Life is like that sometimes. It is a role that I accept but I do not pretend that it was my calling in life. However being a mother and nurturing children is ideally a selfless act. You have to put the needs of others before yourself. When they were very small their needs superseded my own, and forget about my wants. It was about doing what had to be done because it had to be done not because I wanted to do it. It was about being a mature adult because I was a mature adult and some one needed me to do it.

The dolls are something else entirely. They don't exist without me. Well that isn't accurate. They exist but only as hunks of pretty resin. Their characters exist only in my head or in the stories I write for them. They are entirely about my desires. This is the epitome of selfishness; the antithesis of parenting if you will. In a way my characters are the same as my children in that I "gave birth to them" but I do feel that the similarities end there. This is all about making myself happy and feeding my creativity. Something I wasn't able to do for years while I devoted myself entirely to my children. I am still split between the two, my kids are not grown yet and are in fact quite young still. But they are old enough to be independent and allow me some time to myself and a bit of self indulgence. That is what these dolls are, creativity and self indulgence.

 

I got a book from the university library once (I have forgotten what it was called) that was about the phenomenon of older women collecting dolls and reborns etc. and the psychology regarding why they/we actually do it. I don't think there was more than a passing mention of BJDs but a very interesting read! My boyfriend grabbed it off me and said "see? i knew you were mad!" But it wasn't really like that! ^_^;

 

Personally I think he's in the wrong profession! That conclusion he's come to, seems very cliche to me.
I am a Mother as well, but for myself,see no correlation between the two. Also I have never really been into cuddly toys or dolls as such, but I do remember that when I first saw a BJD, they looked like nothing I had ever seen before, and I could see all the creative posibilities for them, and that's what interests me about the hobby. I find that if I don't have anything creative to do, then I get bored, so I love having projects lined up to do.

 

My dolls are extensions of my art, and writer's inspiration, and two of them are purely therapy dolls for "nurturing" the inner child and inner whatever-I-am-Now.
That's about it.