The Role of Play in Social-Intellectual Development

The past decade has witnessed growing interest in the role of play in child development, prompting numerous research studies on the effects and correlates of playful behavior. This paper reviews these studies in an attempt to assess the current status of this important area of inquiry. The paper begins with a discussion of the role of play in major developmental theories. Next, a number of experimental and correlational studies are reviewed. These studies are classified in terms of their major correlates or dependent variables: (a) creativity, (b) problem solving, (c) language development, (d) logical skills, and (e) social knowledge. The designs of the studies are critically examined, and problems of internal and external validity are noted. Recommendations are made for future research.

[1]  J. Bruner,et al.  Play: Its Role in Development and Evolution , 1976 .

[2]  James E. Johnson,et al.  Training for thematic-fantasy play in culturally disadvantaged children: Preliminary results. , 1974 .

[3]  E. Torrance.  Priming Creative Thinking in the Primary Grades , 1961, The Elementary School Journal.

[4]  Kenneth H. Rubin.  Fantasy play: Its role in the development of social skills and social cognition , 1980 .

[5]  I. Silverman,et al.  Play: A General Facilitator of Associative Fluency. , 1975 .

[6]  Greta G. Fein,et al.  Play and the Acquisition of Symbols. , 1978 .

[7]  S. Altman,et al.  The development of role-taking and communication skills in children , 1969 .

[8]  Kornei Chukovsky,et al.  From two to five , 1963 .

[9]  Modes of Thinking in Young Children: A Study of the Creativity-Intelligence Distinction. , 1966 .

[10]  Antony J. Chapman,et al.  Friendship and social relations in children , 1980 .

[11]  I. Silverman,et al.  Effects of play on associative fluency in preschool-aged children. , 1973 .

[12]  Carolyn Uhlinger Shantz.  The development of social cognition , 1975 .

[13]  H. Borke,et al.  Interpersonal Perception of Young Children: Egocentrism or Empathy?. , 1971 .

[14]  S. Lovinger.  Socio‐dramatic play and language development in preschool disadvantaged children , 1974 .

[15]  David Harvey,et al.  Biology of play , 1977 .

[16]  L. Hudson,et al.  Training conservation through symbolic play: A second look. , 1979 .

[17]  R. Fink.  Role of Imaginative Play in Cognitive Development , 1976 .

[18]  Michael A. Wallach,et al.  Modes of thinking in young children: A study of the creativity-intelligence distinction. , 1965 .

[19]  R. Selman,et al.  A structural-developmental analysis of levels of role taking in middle childhood. , 1974, Child Development.

[20]  B. Vandenberg.  The Role of Play in the Development of Insightful Tool-Using Strategies. , 1981 .

[21]  J. Dansky,et al.  Cognitive consequences of sociodramatic play and exploration training for economically disadvantaged preschoolers. , 1980, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[22]  B. Sutton-Smith,et al.  Play and learning , 1979 .

[23]  E. Saltz,et al.  Training disadvantaged preschoolers on various fantasy activities: effects on cognitive functioning and impulse control. , 1977, Child development.

[24]  R. Weir,et al.  Language in the crib , 1962 .

[25]  Courtney B. Cazden,et al.  Play with language and metalinguistic awareness: one dimension of language experience , 1974 .

[26]  James P. Shaver,et al.  Randomness and Replication in Ten Years of the American Educational Research Journal , 1980 .

[27]  Peter K. Smith,et al.  Play and Training in Direct and Innovative Problem Solving. , 1979 .

[28]  M. Hoffman,et al.  Review of Child Development Research , 1966 .

[29]  D. Feitelson,et al.  The neglected factor--play. , 1973, Human development.

[30]  I. Plewis,et al.  Play in pre-school centers--II. Effects on play of the child's social class and of the educational orientation of the centre. , 1976, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[31]  L. Vygotsky.  Play and Its Role in the Mental Development of the Child , 1967 .

[32]  Ronald J. Iannotti,et al.  Effect of role-taking experiences on role taking, empathy, altruism, and aggression. , 1978 .

[33]  A.Sue Weisler,et al.  Exploration and play: Resume and redirection. , 1976 .

[34]  P. Mussen,et al.  Carmichael's Manual of Child Psychology , 1972 .

[35]  J N Lieberman,et al.  Playfulness and divergent thinking: an investigation of their relationship at the kindergarten level. , 1965, The Journal of genetic psychology.

[36]  RELATIONS OF DIVERGENT THINKING AND INTELLIGENCE TEST SCORES WITH SOCIAL AND NONSOCIAL MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY OF PRESCHOOL CHILDREN , 1976 .

[37]  D. Pepler,et al.  The study of children's play: Some suggested future directions , 1980 .

[38]  Peter K. Smith,et al.  PLAY AND NON‐PLAY TUTORING IN PRE‐SCHOOL CHILDREN: IS IT PLAY OR TUTORING WHICH MATTERS? , 1978 .

[39]  C. Brainerd,et al.  Effects of Constructive and Dramatic Play on Perspective Taking in Very Young Children. , 1979 .

[40]  Kenneth H. Rubin,et al.  Play preference and its relationship to egocentrism, popularity and classification skills in preschoolers. , 1975 .

[41]  Lilian G. Katz,et al.  Current topics in early childhood education , 1977 .

[42]  Birch Hg.  The relation of previous experience to insightful problem-solving. , 1945 .

[43]  Kathleen Manning,et al.  Structuring play in the early years at school , 1977 .

[44]  Brian Vandenberg,et al.  Play, problem‐solving, and creativity , 1980 .

[45]  Kenneth H. Rubin,et al.  Free Play Behaviors in Middle- and Lower-Class Preschoolers: Parten and Piaget Revisited , 1976 .

[46]  N. Bolton,et al.  The Effects of Play on Mathematical Concept Formation. , 1977 .

[47]  C. Garvey.  Some Properties of Social Play. , 1974 .

[48]  Symbolic Play and Its Cognitive Significance , 1977 .

[49]  Sara Smilansky,et al.  The Effects Of Sociodramatic Play On Disadvantaged Preschool Children , 1968 .

[50]  D. Singer,et al.  Ideational creativity and behavioral style in kindergarten-age children. , 1973 .

[51]  G. Fein.  Pretend play in childhood: An integrative review. , 1981 .

[52]  Jean Piaget.  Piaget’s Theory , 1976 .

[53]  Developing Language Through Play , 1979, The Elementary School Journal.

[54]  J. Piaget.  Play, dreams and imitation in childhood , 1951 .

[55]  C. E. Rosen.  The effects of sociodramatic play on problem-solving behavior among culturally disadvantaged preschool children. , 1974, Child development.