Van de Vliert proposes a comprehensive explanation for differences in freedoms in diverse human populations based on climate and monetary resources. This intriguing approach, though derived from an evolutionary view covering all species, is based exclusively on human populations. This anthropocentric lens is challenged by ways of testing Van de Vliert’s thesis more generally using playfulness as a surrogate for freedom. Copyright © 2013 Cambridge University Press.
Play, animals, resources: The need for a rich (and challenging) comparative environment
