This is a condensed version of a larger article that appeared in the American Journal of Play (Gray, 2009). Analysis of the anthropological literature suggests that hunter-gatherers use play and humor, more or less deliberately, to make their highly egalitarian mode of existence possible. Their methods of governance and sharing,...
The Virtuousness of Adult Playfulness- the Relation of Playfulness with Strengths of Character
Background It was hypothesized that playfulness in adults (i.e., the predisposition to play) is robustly associated with the "good character." Playfulness in adults can be tested via a global cognitive evaluation and an instrument for distinguishing five different facets of playful behaviors (spontaneous, expressive, creative, fun, and silly). Character strengths...
Why can’t we all just get along? Integration needs more than stories
As astutely noted by the authors of this provocative article, it is time for evolutionary psychology (EP) to be incorporated into clinical and educational interventions. However, two issues from this article are raised in the current commentary: some historical misconceptions of the evolutionary label and a lack of clear and...
Psychopathic personality factor ìFearless dominanceî is related to low self-reported stress-levels, fewer psychiatric symptoms, and more adaptive stress coping in psychiatric disorders
The aim of this cross-sectional study was to test the idea that the psychopathic trait "Fearless dominance " (FD) may be associated with reduced psychological stress symptoms and better stress coping strategies in psychiatric patients, whereas the factor "Self-centered impulsivity " (SCI) may be associated with more stress and maladaptive...
Alibis for Adult Play: A Goffmanian Account of Escaping Embarrassment in Adult Play
The social meanings of play sit at odds with norms of responsible and productive adult conduct. To be "caught " playing as an adult therefore risks embarrassment. Still, many designers want to create enjoyable, nonembarrassing play experiences for adults. To address this need, this article reads instances of spontaneous adult...
A Behavioral Biology for the Future
Some comments are appended to Patrick Bateson's reflections on the future of behavioral biology that were triggered by remembering the contributions of G¸nter Tembrock to ethology. While the suggestions made are valid and insightful, a few specific areas where exciting research possibilities may reside are added including those involving communication...
The neurobiology of RAGE and anger & psychiatric implications with a focus on depression
There has been a perennial debate about whether aggression is learned or innate. The power of extreme arguments in this area has diminished as all are beginning to recognize that both evolution and learning contribute much to our tendency to be aggressive in various distinct ways, including impulsive anger, premeditated...
Perspectives – Minimizing Observer Bias in Behavioral Studies: A Review and Recommendations
Since the 1970s, texts on research methods in animal behavior advocate that researchers minimize potential observer bias in their studies. One way to minimize possible bias is to record or score behavioral data blind to treatment, group, or individual. Another way to reduce bias is for researchers to analyze subsets...
Heightened intensity: Reflecting on player experiences in Wayfinder Live
Location-based games use smartphones and other location-aware devices to incorporate their players' actions in everyday, physical spaces - the streets and public spaces of the city - into the virtual world of the game. Scholars and designers of these games often claim that they reconfigure their players' relationship with the...
Drama as physical role-play: actions and outcomes for life science lessons in South Africa
Two volunteer BEd student teachers in their fourth year of a BEd degree at a metropolitan university in the Western Cape of South Africa designed and taught lessons to two classes of the same age and ability in grade 7 (ages 12-13), using drama role-plays (intervention) and more conventional non-drama...
Associations between father involvement and father-child attachment security: Variations based on timing and type of involvement
This study examined associations between father involvement and father- child attachment security, and whether those associations differed as a function of timing (workday and nonworkday) and/or type (accessibility, caregiving, and play) of involvement. Eighty father- child dyads participated when children were approximately 3 years old. Fathers completed a time diary...
Group selection and the group mind in science
This plausible group-selection model should aid the conceptual integration of the natural and social sciences, but testing in vertebrates is needed. The history of the vehicles-of-selection debate is compared with the controversy over the readmission of innate behavior and genetics to a respectable position in behavioral study. In the spirit...
Using classroom game play in introductory microeconomics to enhance business student learning and lecture attendance
The author examined whether game play improves students' comprehension, attendance, and exam performance. The author designed three games; 120 students in introductory microeconomics classes participated in these experiments. The evidence showed that game play enhances students' attendance, comprehension, and exam performance. It also showed that attendance and exam performance are...
When does the ritual of mythic symbolic type start and when does it end?
Mythic symbolic type is a unique cultural structure that permits no exit to the one who has lost his "self " to it. The semi-commune Little Home housed a community of mythic symbolic types which engendered a ritual of their own in which the men trapped within the type moved...
Inquiry on the Sly: Playful Intervention as Philosophical Action
As an ongoing practice, work can never be fully accounted for or described. Furthermore, the notion of play is often situated in opposition to work in Western cultures - as though work and play cannot occur simultaneously or even within the same location. In this article, we engage in a...
Adult Play: The Dirty Secret of Grown-Ups
Welcome to the Adult Play Special Issue. In this introduction, we (the editors) explain the origin of the collection and our unique take on what adult play means as a term. Rather than be specifically about sexual play, the term adult is taken here to reference the age of players....
Roots and wings’: an exploration of intergenerational play: Research
Play is an important part of life, not only during childhood but also into adulthood and later life. While scholars have emphasized the physical, social, psychological, and cognitive benefits of play for children, few researchers have explored the role of play in later life. One context in which aging adults...
Adult Play and Sexual Selection
Play and playfulness are enigmatic from an evolutionary perspective as it is not obvious that they provide any survival or reproductive benefits. Indeed, animals engaged in play can be injured or even killed, waste energy that could presumably be better put to other uses, or open themselves to predation through...
Technology & Play
The world of iPods, mobile telephones, portable wireless computers, and devices of every description, including toys that contain computer chips, memory, voice recognition, and interactive connectivity has forever changed the landscape of play. User-generated content allows players not only to play, but to shape the games they play, and by...
Consequences of Play Deprivation
To look deeply at play, and to place it in evolutionary, biological, cultural and contemporary context is to partially answer the question, what, really does it mean to be fully human? Or, to state it another way, if play is lost or missing, in a complex changing and demanding world,...
