Literature Review | Play

The benefit of play in adult lives is, by the most part, agreed upon in the play research community. However, what seems to be missing from the conversation is how adults can learn to be more playful as a general mental state and how to bring the playful state of mind into daily life. My hypothesis is that through repetitive exposure to strategically crafted group and individual exercises the adult brain can rewire itself neurologically into a more playful state, allowing for a more adaptive, innovative and problem solving oriented mind. Repetitively exposing and engaging a mind in a play state, the mental state allowing for optimum playful behavior and thought, will fire up neural pathways designed for interpreting daily work, relationship, and intrapersonal problems, in a more joyful and creative approach. This will lead to higher level solution oriented thinking and behavior coupled with overall increased personal happiness. However, in order to design an effective play curriculum, we must first understand and study the why, how, and what of play as well as define its benefits. Understanding play in an overall sense in conjunction with modern neuroscience will serve as a road map through which an effective well developed play program can emerge. Thus, it is my intention through this paper to examine the aspects of play critical to aiding the development of a successful play conditioning program vital to the future.

First, let’s take a look at what play is and how we define it. That is easier said than done. Lloyd P. Rieber, who wrote the article “Seriously Considering Play: Designing Interactive Learning Environments Based on the Blending of Microworlds, Simulations, and Games”, a 1996 publication from Educational Technology Research & Development, believes the difficulty in defining play is largely due to overall common misconceptions of what play is. In addition, it doesn’t help that the study of play is wildly underfunded due to a general lack of value play seems to have in our society. Perhaps this lack of value is due to those misconceptions. We dismiss play as the simple act of fun. Although fun is often a bi-product of play or as some say “play in action”, it is not synonymous with play itself. From my perspective, due to the Puritan heritage of this country, there is a residual paradigm that our society subscribes to, that says play equals fun, which must mean lack of work, which in turn, means laziness. If play means laziness and hard work is valued above all else, it stands to reason play must be bad. However, this is terribly misguided, and frankly quite sad. As Brian Sutton-Smith, play theorist and author of “The Ambiguity of Play” (1997, Harvard University Press) is quoted saying, “The opposite of play is not work, it is depression.” Play is hard to define because it is difficult to describe and articulate. Through my experience with the study of improvisation, play is a physical experience born out of a playful state of mind. Asking someone to define play is on par with asking one to define a spiritual experience, the state of mindfulness or the sensation of love.. Articulate words often fail us when bumped up against such complex, yet simple, intangible human experiences.
Because little research and funding has been given to the study of play directly, taking a look at creativity and it’s relation to play is perhaps the next best approach. Mihaly Csikszentmihlyi, author of the book Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention published in 1996 by Harper Collins, takes a detailed look at creativity. He examines how creative people work and live with the intent that by doing so, these examples will act as a lighthouse for the creatively deprived. In the author’s chapters "The Creative Personality" and "Flow and Creativity" it is clear that when creativity is dissected, the traits and behaviors are almost identical to those of playfulness. As creativity and playfulness go hand in hand, my intention in studying Csikszentmihlyi's observations on creativity is that it will give valuable insights and parallels into play. As Csikzentmihlyi's study of Flow is well-renowned, I hope to capitalize on his wide appeal and respect.
A more scientific and direct play source I intend to use to help define play, is the article "Validating the Adult Playfulness Trait Scale (APTS): An Examination of Personality” published in 2014 in American Journal of Play and written by Xiangyou Sharon Shen, Garry Chick, and Harry Zinn. This team of scientists measure and assess playfulness in adults. They developed what is known as the Adult Playfulness Trait Scale (APTS). This scale dissects playfulness into three major subscales; fun-seeking motivation, uninhibitedness, and spontaneity. To explore these traits, the authors take a thorough look at intrinsic motivation, playfulness in relation to self-as entertainment (SAE), goal attainment, and leisure and boredom. Two separate studies were developed and analyzed to produce the APTS measuring guide. Although, my definition of play might be broader than this article refers to, I hope to reference this well-crafted study to help engage the more engineer minded reader.

Equally elusive to what exactly play is, is how we play – specifically in adults. One source I plan to use who tackles this question is Neva L. Boyd, author of “The Theory of Play” published online by her student Stephen Dela Cruz through Scribd. Drawing from a background in theater and improvisation, author Neva L. Boyd, examines play behavior, play structure, and the values of play. She discusses the need for spontaneity within play and makes a distinction between play that is rudimentary and play that is directed and properly structured to maximize results. She believes play has its own rules and ultimately allows for expression of one’s true potential. Having studied long form improvisation myself, derived from the work of her student Violia Spolin, our experience and point of view on play is very similar. She discusses the need of the group for an ultimate expression of play. Use of this article will support my theory that engaging in the group and partner based exercises is an essential step to developing increased play neural pathways. Another source rich with how to help people engage in play, is Noah Scalin’s book, Unstuck: 52 Ways to Get and Keep your Creativity Flowing at Home, at Work and in Your Studio published by Voyageur Press in 2001. This book contains fifty-two exercises to help get you unstuck creatively, which could serve as inspiration for wonderful homework assignments for play conditioning classes.
In the 2009 book Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul published by Penguin, author Stuart Brown discusses and identifies not only various types of play people engage in such as: body play, object play, curiosity & exploration, social play, imaginative & solo play, storytelling play and collective play, but also various personal play profiles. One individual might experience play through competition, while another through being the class clown, and yet another through storytelling or becoming lost in a creative pursuit. As convenient as it would be to believe play could have a one size fits all model, this would be short sighted and lead to a less effective curriculum. It will be up to the instructor to side coach (a term Neva L Boyd uses) each individual towards their intended play objectives in a way that is in line with their individual play profile.
Today, many people engage in play through video games and interacting with technology. Previously cited article by learning, design and technology professor at University of Georgia, Lloyd P. Rieber explores play within microworlds - small but complete worlds people can interact and “live” within, similar to that of a sandbox for a child or engaging in multiplayer online role-playing games. He believes that microworlds related to technology will help provide education for a more technology oriented future. Often when I bring up the topic of play people are quick to ask about video games. I plan to utilize Rieber’s work to help explain how video games relate to the conversation of play and the play state of mind. Although I agree they are fun and a form of play, I considered them a “low grade” expression of play due to their two dimensional engagement. A higher expression of play would involve person to person play, solo imaginative play or three dimensional object play.

Although defining the what is and the how of play tends to be elusive and challenging for scholars, the why is ripe with rich history, science, and personal observations. In the previously mentioned source by Noah Scalin, Unstuck: 52 Ways to Get and Keep your Creativity Flowing at Home, at Work and in Your Studio, Scalin writes a wonderful introduction about how these exercises have potential to not only open one up creatively, and cure “writer’s block” but also have the power to open an individual up to a more creative life in general leading to greater overall happiness. This supports my own perception of the power of play and the need for play conditioning. Stuart Brown sings a similar tune in his book Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Imagination and Invigorates the Soul. He believes human play is a biological instinct responsible for developing resilient, happy, socially apt, intelligent, and well-balanced beings. Brown delivers many excellent examples of the need for play throughout his book, yet I hope to take his conversation one step further by presenting a "how to" for adults to increase play in their daily lives. In Stuart Brown’s online Ted Talk “Play is More than Just Fun” filmed in May of 2008, he lectures on the importance of play and echoes how it is underutilized and valued in both society, individual life and as a science. He first stumbled across the importance of play while investigating a murder case, where after extensive research, he and his team came to the conclusion that the leading cause for the attacker’s actions was an extreme deficit of play. He believes play is fundamentally necessary and has a biological place similar to that of sleep and dreams, necessary for survival which can empower and prioritize your life.
Another source championing reasons to play is Thomas S. Henricks article "Play as Self-Realization: Toward a General Theory of Play”, in the American Journal of Play, published in the winter of 2014. He believes that play is critical to being able to answer the fundamental personal questions - what can I/ we do, and what can I/ we become. These are the questions one asks on their path towards self-actualization. Therefore, that path is walked through play, and this is why we must play. Through exploring and participating in play we gain a greater understanding of the nuances of intrapersonal and interpersonal complexities. In turn, this allows us to solve both greater and greater intrapersonal and interpersonal societal problems.
Does play precede creativity and thus do we play to become creative? Chen-Ping Chang and colleagues in their article “Relationships between the Playfulness Climate in the Classroom and Student Creativity” published in Springer Science & Media, B.V from 2011, ask the similar question; does a playful environment predict creativity? They analyze the individual creativity and performance of high school students in relation to how playful the classroom environment is. In conclusion, they –confirm that a playful environment can predict, motivate and enhance creativity, especially when working in groups. What interests me most about these findings, is that in order to successfully work in group environments, a playful surrounding is first needed. In modern day corporate life, with an increase of open office floor plans and cross-disciplinary projects (due to the ever enmeshment of technology and creative), the ability for co-workers to work quickly and happily in group environments is critical to overall performance and success of many companies and individual work satisfaction. This speaks to my theory that a successful play conditioning curriculum will initially begin with introducing the group to the power of "the group mind." This is something I hope to add to the conversation of play, and this article will help support me in doing so.
From an evolutionary stand point, many scholars have asked why the trait of play survived evolution. If play did not serve as a vital trait, natural selection would have discarded it along the way. One source which touches on the evolutionary reasons for why we play, is Garry Chick, Careen Yarnal and Andrew Purrington article "Play and Mate Preference: Testing the Signal Theory of Adult Playfulness" from the Spring 2012 publication of American Journal of Play. They determine a key reason for why engaging in play has survived natural selection is that playfulness is attractive to women due to the fact it signals non-aggressiveness in their mates, and for men, playfulness is attractive because it signals youth and fertility. In addition, they claim playfulness survived throughout evolution because historically child play mimics adult skills necessary for survival, thus it prepares the young for adult hood. One question I plan to ask in my paper in relation to this article, is what skills our children in our current society are engaging in which will prepare them for modern adult life? Exploring this will aid in developing exercises tailored to support the skills and play that are needed to thrive in today’s world. I fear however that children no longer engage in preparatory play gearing them towards a healthy and successful adult life. I contribute this to increased interaction in the two dimensional world of technology (Phones, iPads, video games, television, etc.) verses three dimensional object play, coupled with exporting our social interactions online. I fear we will soon live (if we are not there already) in a society where we will need to artificially incorporate play into our lives and learning. Thus the imperative need for play classes, play coaching, play conditioning, modern day “playrooms” or “playtoriums” - specific play oriented environments built privately or by the government- anything to teach and build the neuro synapses developed through play which our society in no longer capable of doing naturally.
Not only will play classes be useful for the everyday person in modern society, but as Norman Doidge, author of The Brain that Changes Itself published through Penguin in 2007 writes, people from stoke victims to the learning disabled will highly benefit from such a program. In his book, Doidge studies and presents the ability of the mind to change itself. He does this not just through emotional and moving real life examples, but also through well examined neuroscience. My hope is to use the science and personal success stories Doidge presents to support my argument of the ability and benefits of changing the brain to a more playful oriented mind, and the need for repetitive exposure to positive play experiences such as play conditioning classes.
Asking the question, “why do we play, and why is it important?”, is similar to asking the question “why is happiness important, and why does one seek to be happy?” Alex Lickerman’s article "How to Reset Your Happiness Set Point” from April 21st 2013 publication of Psychology Today, is a great source for describing what is known as a happiness set point. This is an individual’s innate level of happiness, a level that regardless of external happenings even to the extent of winning the lottery, once acclimated to the new environment and habits will return to their pre-disposed innate happiness level. However, Lickerman points out that there are a few events and actions that can create permanent change of one’s happiness set point. The death of a child being chief among them to decrease the happiness set point, while helping others can increase it. Here is why play is so important to me. As someone who has lost a child, I refuse to believe for the rest of my life that my happiness level will never be what it once was. Regardless of being able to prove it scientifically, I know with conviction from my own experience that play is the antidote to grief. If one can be with and process their grief while simultaneously being in a play state of mind, a state of mental fluidity, transformation, openness and freedom from preconceived doctrines - the grief can and will transform. The grief will move, integrating into the whole self. It is not a diminished self, but a wider more expansive self. Building neural-synapses prone to promote a play state of mind will develop mental resilience to challenging life events by being able to transform, adapt to and integrate unexpected challenging circumstances.
A source that studies why play is important in relation to stress and resilience, is “When Play is a Family Business: Adult Play, Hierarchy, and Possible Stress Reduction in Common Marmosets” by Ivan Norscia and Elisabetta Palagi from the 2011 publication Primates: Journal of Primatology 52.2 from April 2011. Using marmosets as test subjects, Ivan Norscia and Elisabetta Plagi conclude that play successfully reduces stress and builds tolerance to future stressor, thus proposing the same could be true for humans. They observed that play increased most just before feeding time, when stress and anxiety is highest. In addition, scratching, a common expression of anxiety and stress for marmosets was significantly reduced after an intense play session. Although some theorists believe play can cause stress, the authors of this article believe their findings lead to support that whatever stress play could promote, the benefits far outweigh. Our modern world is full of undue stress as we strive to compete in a “bigger, faster, cheaper” global economy. Having concrete data pointing to play as a stress reducer, will help convince the more scientific oriented reader of the benefits of repetitive play exercises and encourage them to sign up for play conditioning classes. This also supports the theory that play will continue to survive natural selection. Those individuals with a playful mind and tendency towards play are naturally more tolerant to modern stress, adaptable and resilient to a fast changing world. The playful person will thrive and survive over those who are play deficient or play inept. Another example of this is in Stuart Brown’s previously mentioned TED talk where he discusses a study of the effects of play deprivation in rats. Two groups of rats were raised, one in a play promoting environment, one in a play deprivation environment. A pheromone coated cat collar was then dropped into the cages. Over time, the rats which had previously engaged in play, eventually came out to investigate the threat and reintegrated into the environment. The rats deprived of play stayed in their holes and died - every single one. Play is crucial to our ability to survive.
Taking a broad overview of why play is important is the documentary, The Promise of Play, executive produced by Stuart Brown and David Kennard and distributed from Direct Cinema Limited, in 2008. The first segment of this three part series, "The Mother of Invention" highlights the benefits of play in the corporate environment and how play is a great innovator of creative thought. Second of the installments, "A World of Your Own", explores the types of activities adults and children participate in to express play. But it is the third segment, "The Heart of the Matter", I find the most relevant to my research. In this segment, the benefits play on health and society is examined. Patch Adams, play pioneer and renowned doctor, talks eloquently on how the expression of play is on-par with that of love. He believes love and play are the two greatest connectors and healers, essential to humanity at large. Perhaps this explains in part the recent boom in the pet care industry – dogs in particular. As play becomes more difficult and foreign for humans to engage in, we find comfort and solace in the direct, simple, love and play-filled, connections of our pets. Our value in our furry friends is in on the incline while our play declines. Participating in play with animals is somehow societally acceptable. We can connect with them non-verbally, bounce about, tug at their ears and make silly sounds while looking ridiculous, yet without feeling ridiculous. Play is preverbal. It reminds me of a t-shirt I once had that said, “greet everyone as you would your dog” or the bumper sticker, “be the person your dog thinks you are.” In essence, be playful.
Furthermore, James V. Schall explores in his 2006 article “Mysticism, Political Philosophy, and Play” published in Modern Age, he connects similarities between mysticism, political philosophy and play. Using Aristotle’s teachings to link the three topics, Schall discusses how they all contain an element of the power to connect us to something greater than ourselves, and beyond our own experience. Although I do believe the expression of play is closely related to spirituality and love and agree with his intent, Schall’s writing contains a strong Christian tone and I feel not neutral enough to use for the widespread appeal I hope my paper will have.
Looking at the more specific effects of play, is Chen-Ping Chang study “Relationships between Playfulness and Creativity among Students Gifted in Mathematics and Science” published in 2013 through Creative Education. Chen-Ping Chang, hypothesizes and confirms that a playfulness trait in students has a direct effect on their creativity and ability in the mathematics. The more playful a student, the more creative and more gifted at math they are. He administers detailed questionnaires to junior high school students and extensively analyzes the results as his main tool of gathering evidence. He argues that with an ever evolving modern world geared towards technology and need for high level problem solving, creativity will foster advanced problem solving skills and will be a valuable trait for future success. He perceives the benefits and effects of play in a very similar way I do- one where play develops a playful mind with a fluid, transformative, flexible and “yes and” tendency. Studying the effect play has on adolescent coping mechanisms and stress perception is Marianne B. Staempfli’s article "Adolescent Playfulness, Stress Perception, Coping and Well-being" (Journal of Leisure Research, 2007). She discovers that although playfulness has an indirect influence on teenager’s ability to engage in leisure activities and keep stress at moderate levels, it does not seem to affect how teenagers cope. Regardless of playfulness, females continued to cope through social connection, while males continued to cope in a more independent way. However, early play is what develops one’s ability to connect, and one’s ability to engage in satisfying independent activities. Therefore without early play exposure and experience, these adolescents would not have found success in their chosen forms of coping. This study was also ill-constructed in the fact that it seemed to be forcing a more interpretive science into a traditional science model. Traditional science needs to be able to “track, quantify and present" clear evidence. It seems Staempli focused on quantifiable observations of play in action verses the more subtle and difficult to articulate playful state of mind. Perhaps if the study was redeveloped to observe and study a playful state of mind (a mental outlook verses a physical expression), and early play exposure relational to the subjects, we would find different conclusions.

Recent scientific studies now prove neuroplasticity, the ability for the mind to change and adapt opens up a whole new conversation in the study of play. Author and psychiatrist, Norman Doidge, in his book The Brain that Changes Itself, illuminates the many exciting benefits and discoveries of this revolutionary neuroscience breakthrough. This is a source rich with examples of the power and validity of neuroplasticity. Connecting neuroplasticity, happiness and play, previous Sesame Street puppeteer, turned play coach, Gwen Gordon writes in her 2014 article from American Journal of Play, "Well Played: The Origins and Future of Playfulness”, that play is closely linked to a general sense of happiness. She brings to light that in the happiness field, one can argue that nature is responsible for one’s happiness while others argue it is based on an individual’s experience - their nurturing. Gordon however argues that due to recent neuroscience findings that the brain is constantly growing and has the ability to adapt and change. One’s happiness is actually more in our own control than we think. I intend to argue that if science proves one can change their predisposition for happiness, one can also change their predisposition to playfulness. She also argues that secure attachment from a young age plays a crucial role in one’s ability to play. It seems to me that saying someone suffers from secure attachment is just another way of saying this person was raised “play deprived”. Secure attachment is formed through early positive connection, connection if formed through play.
Taking a more specialized look at play’s effect on the brain, is Louk J.M.J. Vanderschuren, Raymon J.m. Niesink, Jan M. Van Ree. In this team’s article “The Neurobiology of Social Play Behavior in Rats” from Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews published in 1997, it is the author’s opinion that social play differs neurologically from that of social investigation, sexual play, and aggressive play. The team used the administration of various drugs into rat’s system and observed the effect, noting if social play increased or decreased. What is interesting about these findings and relevant to my own research, is not just making a distinction that social play and social investigation are two separate neurologically based behaviors, but also that certain drugs like caffeine, nicotine and cocaine decreased social play while it increased social investigation. I wonder if as adult humans we are substituting the pleasure of social investigation for a deeper need of social play. If they are neurologically separate activities as the author’s findings suggest, perhaps our tendency to seek a drug-induced social investigation high is really a search for more social play. Simply put, we are barking up the wrong tree, convinced if we simply climb higher, we’ll become satisfied. If we could access and express social play behavior more, our desire for drugs such as caffeine and cocaine, which increase our social investigation, might very will decrease.
Elegantly describing the daunting and complex world of neuroscience and neuroplasticy, is the website What is Nueroplasticity, copyright 2012. Full of articles and images succinctly and articulately illustrating just what neuroplasticity is, this site will be extremely useful for helping succinctly articulate what neuroplasticity is to my readers. Having access to the science of how the brain is able to create new neural pathways, will strengthen my argument that creating a more playful brain, full of playful neural connections is possible - regardless of age, experience or predisposition. Learning how the brain creates new neural pathways, in conjunction with a clear appreciation and understanding of play, will expertly guide the development of a success play conditioning program.