In this quick guide, Gordon Burghardt considers the criteria for ascribing a particular animal behavior as “play “, and in particular the evidence for play in fishes, frogs and reptiles. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Search Results for: gordon burghardt
Scientific Disciplines Researching Play
Scientific Disciplines Researching Play On this page we summarize the broad range of play research conducted in universities around the world under the auspices of over twenty scientific disciplines. We identify some of the scientists working to understand the biological, psychological and social mechanisms that underlie the benefits of play in our everyday lives. For simplicity, […]
The Genesis of Animal Play: Testing the Limits (MIT Press)
In The Genesis of Animal Play, Gordon Burghardt examines the origins and evolution of play in humans and animals. He asks what play might mean in our understanding of evolution, the brain, behavioral organization, and psychology. Is play essential to development? Is it the driving force behind human and animal behavior? What is the proper […]
Play Scientists and Experts
Play Scientists and Experts Play is scientifically studied across a wide range of academic disciplines — ethology, psychology, brain science, educational psychology, evolutionary psychology, neuroscience. We have assembled here a few brief profiles of leading lights across most of those disciplines, along with references to their most influential play-related work. This page is by no […]
Science of Play
Play Science Play Is Deeply Rooted in Us Neuroscientist Jaak Pankskepp and psychologist Gordon Burghardt have shown that play is part of the biology of mammals, birds and even some reptiles and other creatures. Panksepp identified seven basic emotional states, one of which is play Play is so deeply rooted in the brain that it […]
Motivation, development and object play: comparative perspectives with lessons from dogs
Object play occurs in diverse animals in addition to birds and mammals. Although many carnivores engage in object play in a predatory context, many non-predators do so also. Conjectures over the years on the motivation to play are reviewed dealing with intrinsic, developmental, and stimulus factors. We then report on quantitative studies of the play […]
