pretend play and positive psychology: natural companions

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This article was downloaded by: [University of California, San Francisco] On: 25 September 2014, At: 17:02 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK The Journal of Positive Psychology: Dedicated to furthering research and promoting good practice Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rpos20 Pretend play and positive psychology: Natural companions Beth L. Pearson a , Sandra W. Russ a & Sarah A. Cain Spannagel a a Department of Psychology , Case Western Reserve University , Cleveland, OH, USA Published online: 25 Mar 2008. To cite this article: Beth L. Pearson , Sandra W. Russ & Sarah A. Cain Spannagel (2008) Pretend play and positive psychology: Natural companions, The Journal of Positive Psychology: Dedicated to furthering research and promoting good practice, 3:2, 110-119, DOI: 10.1080/17439760701760617 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439760701760617 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http:// www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

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Page 1: Pretend play and positive psychology: Natural companions

This article was downloaded by: [University of California, San Francisco]On: 25 September 2014, At: 17:02Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House,37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

The Journal of Positive Psychology: Dedicated tofurthering research and promoting good practicePublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rpos20

Pretend play and positive psychology: NaturalcompanionsBeth L. Pearson a , Sandra W. Russ a & Sarah A. Cain Spannagel aa Department of Psychology , Case Western Reserve University , Cleveland, OH, USAPublished online: 25 Mar 2008.

To cite this article: Beth L. Pearson , Sandra W. Russ & Sarah A. Cain Spannagel (2008) Pretend play and positive psychology:Natural companions, The Journal of Positive Psychology: Dedicated to furthering research and promoting good practice, 3:2,110-119, DOI: 10.1080/17439760701760617

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17439760701760617

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE

Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) containedin the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make norepresentations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of theContent. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, andare not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon andshould be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable forany losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoeveror howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use ofthe Content.

This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematicreproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in anyform to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/terms-and-conditions

Page 2: Pretend play and positive psychology: Natural companions

The Journal of Positive PsychologyVol. 3, No. 2, April 2008, 110–119

Pretend play and positive psychology: Natural companions

Beth L. Pearson*, Sandra W. Russ and Sarah A. Cain Spannagel

Department of Psychology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA

(Received 3 January 2007; final version received 25 July 2007)

AbstractIn this article we posit that (1) research on pretend play fits under the umbrella of the positive psychology movement, (2) pretendplay involves a multitude of processes that are linked to adaptive functioning, and (3) understanding and implementingknowledge of pretend play processes in therapy or interventions may lead to more optimal functioning in children. We review fiveareas of positive psychology in relation to pretend play: (1) creativity, (2) coping, (3) emotion regulation, (4) empathy/emotionalunderstanding, and (5) hope. Implications for interventions and future research questions are discussed.

Keywords: positive psychology; play; creativity; coping; emotion regulation; empathy; hope

Introduction

Developmental and personality psychologists have

long been interested in adaptive functioning and how

various processes occur in order for individuals to

grow optimally. Psychology, in general, however, has

only recently become interested in understanding

processes that lead to adaptive functioning (Seligman,

1999). Less than 10 years ago, at Martin Seligman’s

1998 Presidential Address to the American

Psychological Association (Seligman, 1999), the

Positive Psychology movement was officially born

(Linley, Joseph, Harrington, & Wood, 2006). The

positive psychology movement is not only interested in

adaptive functioning; it emphasizes the understanding

of optimal functioning.Although many definitions of positive psychology

exist (cf. Linley et al., 2006, for a review),

we particularly like Gable and Haidt’s (2005) descrip-

tion of positive psychology as ‘the study of the

conditions and processes that contribute to the

flourishing or optimal functioning of people, groups,

and institutions’ (p. 104). Their definition includes not

only stable factors but processes, which lends itself to

the idea of malleability. Since a process is inherently

fluid, rather than stable, it can be acted upon. The field

of clinical psychology is becoming adept at changing

processes that lead to distress and discomfort. Despite

this, as Seligman pointed out in his presidential

address, psychology is not yet proficient in helping

people to lead optimal, fulfilling lives (Seligman, 1999).

By understanding the processes that are associated

with flourishing, we can then make attempts at altering

and enhancing them. Targeting processes associated

with optimal adaptation may be particularly beneficial

for children, whose underlying cognitive and emotional

processes are constantly developing. By targeting these

processes during childhood, it may be possible to

significantly alter the course of a child’s developmental

trajectory, yielding large benefits to both the individual

child and to society as a whole.In the last 30 years, many influential researchers

have begun studying what might be termed positive

psychological processes, despite that terminology only

being used in the last decade. Some of these processes

include creativity (Sternberg, 1988), coping (Compas,

Connor-Smith, Saltzman, Thomsen, & Wadsworth,

2001), emotion regulation (Eisenberg & Fabes, 2006),

empathy/emotional understanding (Barnett, 1987;

Nannis, 1988), and hopeful thinking (Snyder et al.,

1997). Research by Russ and colleagues over the last 20

years has focused on pretend play processes (Russ,

1987, 2004). Although pretend play has long been

recognized as developmentally important (Fein, 1981),

*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]

ISSN 1743-9760 print/ISSN 1743-9779 online

� 2008 Taylor & Francis

DOI: 10.1080/17439760701760617

http://www.informaworld.com

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until now it has not been included within the positivepsychology literature.

We posit that (1) research on pretend play fits underthe umbrella of the positive psychology movement,(2) pretend play involves a multitude of processes thatare linked to adaptive functioning, and (3) under-standing and implementing knowledge of pretend playprocesses in therapy or prevention interventions maylead to more optimal functioning in children. We willpresent a review of five areas of positive psychology:(1) creativity, (2) coping, (3) emotion regulation,(4) empathy/emotional understanding, and (5) hope.For each area, we will show how pretend playprocesses are conceptually related. Whenever possible,we will present empirical research that delineates thoserelationships. In the cases in which research hasnot been carried out on pretend play processes andanother positive psychology domain, we willdiscuss relevant research questions, which could beinvestigated in the future.

Pretend play and adaptive functioning

Pretend play can be defined as ‘a symbolic behavior inwhich one thing is playfully treated as if it weresomething else’ (Fein, 1987, p. 282). For example,a child might use a shoebox as a doll’s bed or a sock toact like a talking puppet. Segal (2004) summarizesmany of the elements that typify play behavior: play ispleasurable and intrinsically motivated; it has no goal,it is spontaneous and voluntary; it involves activeengagement; it is all engrossing; it is a child’s privatereality; and it is nonliteral (Segal, 2004). Unlike work,which is done in order to achieve something, the pointof playing is simply that, to play. Although pleasurablefor the child, play is also fundamentally useful in thatchildren learn a variety of skills through play anddevelopmental change is brought about through play(Singer, Golinkoff, & Hirsh-Pasek, 2006).

Pretend play is comprised of a variety of cognitive,affective, and interpersonal processes which can beobserved and measured (Russ, 2004). Russ proposedthat cognitive processes include organization(the process of telling a story with a logical timesequence), divergent thinking (the process of generatinga number of different ideas), symbolism (the process oftransforming objects into representations of otherobjects), and fantasy/make-believe (the process ofengaging in ‘as if’ play behavior). Affective processesinclude expression of emotion, expression of affectcontent themes, comfort and enjoyment in the playexperience, and emotion regulation and modulation ofthe affect in the play (the process of containing theemotion within the narrative). Interpersonal processesreflected in pretend play include empathy, commu-nication, and interpersonal schema (the process of

representing others and trusting in others). Russ (1987,2004) developed the Affect in Play Scale (APS),a standardized play measure, to assess the cognitiveand affective processes that occur in play. Pretend playhas been found to relate to a number of areas ofadaptive functioning (Russ, 2004). In a meta-analysisof 46 studies, both correlational and experimental,Fisher (1992) concluded that play results in improve-ment in children’s development.

Creativity

In the field of creativity, a distinction is usually madebetween the creative product and the creative process.The creative product is the output of the individual,which can be judged as to the amount of creativity itexhibits. There is a consensus in the field that a productmust be both original, of good quality, and appro-priate to the task (Sternberg, Kaufman, & Pretz, 2002).The creative process refers to the many cognitive,affective, and personality processes within an indivi-dual that are involved in the creative act. Individualswho are high on some of these processes will have ahigher likelihood of producing a creative product.Different profiles of creative processes are likely indifferent domains of creativity. For example, Feist(1999) concluded that some personality traits aredomain-general and some are domain-specific.Sternberg and Lubart (1996) discussed the complexityinvolved in generating a creative act. They reviewconfluence approaches to creativity whichinvolve multiple components that must converge forcreativity to occur. Some of these components occur inpretend play.There is some consensus about the processes

involved in the creative act. Russ (1993) reviewed theresearch literature and described the cognitive, affec-tive, and personality processes associated with creativeability. A few of the cognitive processes are insight(Vandenberg, 1980), divergent thinking (Guilford,1968), and transformation abilities (Guilford, 1968).Insight refers to the ability to see the solution to aproblem. Sternberg (1988) developed a three-facetmodel of insight and synthesizing ability involved increative thinking. Divergent thinking refers to theability to generate a variety of ideas (Guilford, 1968).Transformation abilities are the capacity to shift sets inproblem solving and reorder information. Affect is alsoimportant in creativity. Csikszentmihalyi (1990)defines an optimal ‘flow’ experience occurring whenan individual is totally involved in an activity, feels adeep sense of enjoyment, and is optimally challenged.Related to the flow concept is intrinsic motivation.Amabile (1983) has demonstrated the importance ofintrinsic motivation in creativity. For those who areintrinsically motivated, the love of the work drives the

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creative process. Other affective processes related tocreativity are openness to emotional experiences (bothpositive and negative) and access to affect in fantasy,memories, and images (Russ, 1993, 2004).

Creativity and pretend play

There is a large body of research in the play andcreativity area. Individual differences in creativeprocesses can be identified in children, and many ofthese processes are experienced and developed inpretend play (Russ, 1993, 2004; Saracho, 2002).In Fisher’s (1992) meta-analysis of play studies, thelargest effect size was for divergent thinking.Sawyer (1997) conceptualized pretend play as impro-visational. Play is unscripted, yet has loose outlines tobe followed. According to Sawyer, improvisation isalso an important feature of creativity. When a child istotally involved in pretend play, or ‘lost in play,’ thatchild is most likely experiencing what Csikszentmihalyi(1990) has conceptualized as ‘flow.’

Insight, a cognitive process that is important increative problem solving, can be facilitated throughplay. In a review of experimental studies of insightand play, Vandenberg (1980) concluded thatplay facilitated insightful tool use and enhancedmotivated task activity. For example, in a classicstudy, Sylva, Bruner and Genova (1976) had one groupof children play with objects, a second group observedan experimenter solve a problem, and a third controlgroup was only exposed to the objects. Significantlymore children in the play and observation groupssolved the problem than in the control group. The playgroup was more goal oriented than the other groups intheir efforts on the task and was more likely to piecetogether the solution.

Divergent thinking has been identified as onecomponent of creativity and is important in manydomains (Runco, 1991). Play should be related todivergent thinking because in play children generate avariety of ideas and recombine ideas and symbols. Inessence, play is practice with divergent thinking(Singer & Singer, 1990). Also, the involvementof emotion in play should increase access toemotional memories and broaden the associativenetwork (Isen, Daubman, & Nowicki, 1987; Russ,1993). A large number of studies have found arelationship between play (usually solitary) anddivergent thinking (Johnson, 1976; Pepler & Ross,1981; Singer & Rummo, 1973). Russ and Grossman-McKee (1990) found that both cognitive and affectiveprocesses in play related to divergent thinking,independent of intelligence. Lieberman (1977) founda relation between playfulness, which includedaffective components of spontaneity and joy, anddivergent thinking in kindergarten children.

In a longitudinal study, Russ, Robbins, andChristiano (1999) found that imagination and organi-zation of fantasy in play in first and second graderswas associated with divergent thinking in the fifth andsixth grades. In this study, the APS was individuallyadministered to children in the first and second grades.Thirty-one of those children received a divergentthinking task in the fifth and sixth grades.Imagination in play significantly related todivergent thinking (r¼ 0.42, p<0.01) and remainedsignificant after controlling for IQ. Play did notfacilitate divergent thinking but demonstrated astable relationship over time.Recently, Russ and Schafer (2006) found a relation-

ship between negative affect in fantasy play anddivergent thinking. Children who could express nega-tive themes in play, such as aggression or sadness,generated more uses for objects and more original usesfor those objects on a creativity task. This indicatesthat the process of expressing negative affect in play isrelated to creative processes.Most of this research on play and divergent thinking

has been correlational; therefore one cannot concludefrom these studies that play facilitates creativity.However, a causal relationship has also been foundbetween play and divergent thinking in a fewexperimental studies. In two important studies, playfacilitated divergent thinking in preschool children(Dansky & Silverman, 1973; Dansky, 1980). Inparticular, Dansky and Silverman, in a well-designedstudy using random assignment, found that childrenwho played with objects during a 10-minute playperiod gave significantly more uses for those objectsthan did children who imitated play or who coloredpictures. In the later experimental study, Dansky(1980) found that make-believe play was the mediatorof the relationship between play and creativity. Also, inthe second study, play had a generalized effect in thatobjects in the play period were different from those inthe test period. These two studies are important inthat they show a direct effect of play on divergentthinking.Smith and Whitney (1987) have criticized many play

and divergent thinking studies because the play anddivergent thinking tasks were carried out by the sameexaminer, thus creating experimenter bias. However, anumber of the studies did use different examiners andstudies have been conducted by independent researchgroups (Dansky, 1999). Nonetheless, future studiesshould be aware of this issue and control forexperimenter bias as much as possible.

Resilience and coping

Resilience is ‘characterized by good outcomes in spiteof serious threats to adaptation or development’

112 B.L. Pearson et al.

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(Masten, 2001, p. 228). If a child’s development hasbeen threatened due to a stressor such as abuse or anatural disaster and the child has ‘good outcomes’ suchas academic success or trusting relationships, then thechild is considered resilient. Masten notes thatresilience, therefore, is a judgment or an outcomerather than a process. Coping, however, refers to aprocess or a number of processes, as coping refers toconscious efforts to manage stress (Lazarus &Folkman, 1984). Compas and colleagues (2001)differentiate resilience and coping as follows: ‘Copingrefers to processes of adaptation . . . coping can beviewed as efforts . . . and resilience can be viewed as thesuccessful outcome of these actions’ (p. 89). Becausecoping involves changeable processes our discussionwill focus on coping.

Attempts at categorizing coping strategies have beennumerous (see Ayers, Sandler, & Twohey, 1998, for areview). Ayers, Sandler, West and Roosa (1996) factoranalyzed 10 coping scales and found that they weresubsumed under four factors. The four factors werelabeled active coping, support seeking, distraction, andavoidance. An individual’s personality (Bolger &Zuckerman, 1995) and the amount of control aperson feels in a situation (Compas, Banez,Malcarne, & Worsham, 1991) will determine whichcoping strategy will be the most effective for anindividual. Generally speaking, however, strategieswhich involve the individual engaging with the stressorhave been found to be associated with better adjust-ment and disengagement strategies have been found tobe associated with poorer adjustment (Compas,Conner-Smith, Saltzman, Thomsen, & Wadsworth,2001).

Coping and pretend play

In play therapy, play is used as a medium forhelping children to process their emotions and tocope with stressors (Russ, 2004). Children may behelped to recognize and label their feelings and thinkabout the stressor in a safe environment. In CognitiveBehavioral Play Therapy (CBPT; Knell, 1993), chil-dren are taught specific skills to cope with stressors,such as relaxation or positive self-talk. In bothtraditional play therapy and CBPT, children arehelped to use engagement coping strategies throughthe medium of play.

Studies have found pretend play and coping to bepositively related (Christiano & Russ, 1996; Russ et al.,1999; Goldstein & Russ, 2000–2001). These studiesthat investigated play and coping used the Affect inPlay Scale (APS; Russ, 2004) to measure play abilities,different types of coping measures, and involveddifferent experimenters. The APS involves childrenplaying ‘any way [they] like’ for five minutes with three

blocks and two puppets; therefore children’s play on

the APS involves a wide variety of themes.In a study of seven to nine year-old children

undergoing an invasive dental procedure, Christiano

and Russ (1996) found a positive relationship between

play and coping and a negative relationship between

play and distress. Children who were ‘good’ players

on the APS (in that they expressed affect and

imagination in play) implemented a greater number

and variety of cognitive coping strategies on a separate

coping measure and reported less distress during the

procedure than children who expressed less affect and

fantasy in play. Consistent with these findings, a study

by Goldstein and Russ (2000–2001) found that fantasy

and imagination in play were positively related to the

number and variety of cognitive coping attempts

involving a situation that required impulse control of

aggression. In a longitudinal study (Russ et al., 1999),

fantasy in play significantly predicted self-reported

coping over a four year period. Children who had

higher fantasy scores in play could think of more

things to do in stressful situations four years later.It appears that the relationship between play

processes and coping is due to a shared process

rather than the content of the play (as themes on the

APS can vary widely). It is possible that the link

between play and coping is due to divergent thinking,

which is important in both functions. Good divergent

thinkers should be able to think of alternative solutions

to real life problems. Empirically, divergent thinking

has been found to relate to teachers’ ratings of coping

in fifth grade boys (Russ, 1988). Similarly, Carson and

colleagues (1994) found a significant relationship

between figural divergent thinking and teachers’

ratings of coping (Carson, Bittner, Cameron, Brown,

& Meyer, 1994).

Emotion regulation

Learning to process and regulate emotions are key

developmental tasks for children. Emotions are impor-

tant messengers: when one experiences an emotion, the

individual is processing that something significant has

occurred (Campos, Frankel, & Camras, 2004).

Emotion regulation is important for adaptive function-

ing because without regulation, emotions could over-

whelm a person. Emotion regulation involves engaging

in processes to modulate the intensity and duration of

one’s feelings and one’s arousal so that one can reach

one’s goals (Eisenberg & Fabes, 2006). In considering

emotion regulation in relation to pretend play, we will

focus on the processes involved in play which may

interact with cognitive, behavioral, and physiological

processes that enable children to modulate their

emotional responses.

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Emotion regulation and pretend play

Play is a major arena in which children learn toexpress, tolerate, and modulate emotions. As early as1933, Waelder described the play process as one inwhich the child repeats an unpleasant experience overand over until it becomes manageable. Erikson (1963)presented the concept of mastery, in which the childuses play to gain mastery over traumatic events andeveryday conflicts.

Play therapy is based on the premise that play servesthese functions. In play therapy, children are helped toexpress and integrate difficult negative emotions into acoherent, meaningful narrative (Gaensbauer & Siegel,1995). Play enables the child to organize the fragmen-ted experiences into meaningful narratives; interpretivework by the therapist helps the child to understand thepersonal meanings of the trauma. Those from acognitive-behavioral framework (Knell, 1993) suggestthat in play fears are extinguished as the child isexposed to fearful thoughts and emotions in manage-able ways.

Russ (2004) reviewed the play interventionliterature and concluded that play helps children tomanage fears and reduce anxiety. In medical settings,pretend play interventions have been found to beeffective at preventing and reducing distress andanxiety (cf. Moore & Russ, 2006, for a review).Interestingly, in a study of 4–11-year-olds, Kenealy(1989) investigated strategies that children use whenthey are feeling depressed, and found that 50% of thechildren’s responses included play strategies. Childrenseem to intuitively seek out play to help them modulatetheir emotions.

Two recent studies examined the construct ofemotion regulation more specifically. Galyer andEvans (2001) found a positive relationship betweenpretend play and emotion regulation in preschoolchildren. The study looked at both emotion regulationwithin a specific pretend play situation (rated by theinvestigators) and emotion regulation within daily life(rated by parents). Results indicated that the frequencyof children’s pretend play outside of the experimentwas related to parent’s ratings of the children’semotion regulation. Children who engaged in dailypretend play had significantly higher emotion regula-tion scores than children who engaged in less pretendplay. Also, children who played with their parentsregularly had significantly higher emotion regulationscores than children who played with less experiencedpartners (Galyer & Evans, 2001).

In another study involving preschool-aged children,Lindsey and Colwell (2003) found a positive relation-ship between pretend play, emotion regulation, andemotional competence. Children’s play was assessedbased on a 15-minute play session with a friend fromthe child’s class. Interestingly, gender differences

emerged. Girls had higher scores on mothers’ ratingsof emotion regulation scores and teachers’ ratings ofemotional competence than boys. Girls also engaged inmore pretend play during their dyadic play sessionthan boys. Finally, for girls but not boys, pretend playwas significantly, positively related to mothers’ ratingsof emotion regulation and teachers’ ratings of emo-tional competence.These two studies indicate that pretend play is

related to emotion regulation. What is not clear iswhether there is a causal relationship between thesetwo constructs. Future research is needed to investigateif increasing the quantity or quality of a child’s pretendplay will help with emotion regulation and, if so, whichprocesses within pretend play lead to those changes.

Empathy and emotional understanding

Empathy involves the cognitive process of recognizingand taking the perspective of another person and theaffective process of responding to another’s emotionswith a congruent emotion (Bryant, 1987). Empathy isan important part of healthy interpersonal functioningand has been empirically linked to prosocial behaviorand better overall mental health (Barnett, 1987;Bryant, 1987; Roberts & Strayer, 1996). Emotionalunderstanding involves the processes of makinginferences about one’s own emotions and aboutother’s feelings, which in turn influence one’s thoughtsand actions (Nannis, 1988). Children’s empathy andemotional understanding are conceptually, and empiri-cally, related to their understanding of what otherpeople think and feel more generally (Dunn & Cutting,1999). The understanding of how other people’s mindsworks has been referred to as ‘theory of mind.’

Pretend play, empathy, and emotional understanding

Lillard (1998) reviews several studies which foundpositive relationships between theory of mind tasksand pretend play and fantasy. Pretend play canserve as a testing ground for expressing emotion.The integration of a child’s affective and cognitivecomponents in play appears to facilitate the develop-ment of interpersonal functioning and emotionalunderstanding (Russ, 2004). In Fisher’s (1992) meta-analysis of play studies, the strongest effect size inaddition to divergent thinking was for perspective-taking.Seja and Russ (1999) found that quality of fantasy in

play was significantly related to the ability to describeemotional experiences and to the understanding ofothers’ emotions. Niec and Russ (2002) similarlydemonstrated the significant relationship betweenquality of fantasy in play and children’s empathic

114 B.L. Pearson et al.

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responding. Finally, Lindsey and Colwell (2003) founda significant, positive relationship between engaging inhigh levels of pretend play and understanding emo-tions in preschool boys. For preschool girls, therelationship was in the same direction, although itwas not statistically significant.

The relationship between emotional understandingand pretend play may be different depending on who isengaged in the play (Youngblade & Dunn, 1995).Haight and Sachs (1995) argued that spontaneouspretend play between young children and their mothersprovides a context for children to learn about negativeemotions within. Youngblade and Dunn (1995),however, found that siblings may be particularlyimportant for emotional understanding. Themes inchildren’s play with their siblings tended to be morediverse than children’s play with their mothers. Thetotal amount of pretend play and the amount of child–sibling play was associated with emotional under-standing, whereas the amount of child–mother pre-tense was not. Dunn and Cutting (1999) found positiverelationships between the amount of cooperativepretend play between friends and both affectiveperspective taking abilities and emotional understand-ing abilities. Emotional understanding did not inde-pendently predict cooperative pretend play, however.

Finally, having an imaginary friend does not appearto relate to emotional understanding, although chil-dren engaging in solitary impersonations may berelated (Taylor, Carlson, Maring, Gerow, & Charley,2004). Taylor and colleagues conducted a longitudinalstudy across three years in which they differentiatedbetween having an imaginary companion and imper-sonating an imaginary character. Children who did notengage in impersonations at six to seven years old hadsignificantly lower emotional understanding scoresthan children who did engage in impersonations.

Some studies have investigated the relationshipbetween the themes of the pretend play and emotionalunderstanding (Dunn & Hughes, 2001). In a two yearlongitudinal study of 80 preschoolers, Dunn andHughes (2001) found a positive relationship betweenfrequency of pretend play and scores on an emotionunderstanding interview. The content of the play alsohad important implications. Children who had a higherproportion of violent pretend play at four years oldgave less empathic responses on a moral understandingmeasure at six years old. Also at four years old,proportion of violent pretend play was significantlynegatively related to theory of mind tasks andexecutive functioning tasks. Proportion of violentpretend play was positively related to antisocialbehavior, anger, and conflict within interactions witha friend. However, proportion of violent pretend playdid not relate to emotional understanding. Theseresults indicate that pretend play relates to empathyand emotional understanding in some ways. Further,

the themes within the play may have particularrelevance to empathy and interactions with others.

Hope

Hope is the wellspring for motivation. Snyder andcolleagues (1997) defined hope as ‘a cognitive setinvolving the belief in one’s capabilities to produceworkable routes to goals (the pathways component), aswell as the self-related beliefs about initiating andsustaining movement toward those goals (the agencycomponent)’ (p. 401). According to this definition,hope has three components. The first component ofhope involves having specific goals. The secondcomponent is pathways thinking, which pertains to aperson’s belief that she can come up with multiplepaths to reach that goal. The third component isagency, which involves a person’s beliefs that it ispossible to reach her goal.In their initial validation study of the Children’s

Hope Scale (Snyder et al., 1997), several samples ofchildren were used to investigate the correlates of hope.Hope was positively related to parents’ ratings of theirchildren’s hope, positively related to children’s self-perceptions of their competence and their self-worth,and negatively related to depression. Other studiesusing the Children’s Hope Scale have found hope to bepositively related to adaptive coping strategies(Pearson & Russ, 2007) and to be negatively relatedto anxiety (Lewis & Kliewer, 1996; Pearson & Russ,2007).

Hope and pretend play

The two kinds of thinking that comprise hope are eachconceptually related to pretend play processes. When achild uses agency-thoughts, a child is asserting, ‘I cando it!’ or ‘I am capable.’ Part of what makes play sopleasurable for children is that within play, unlike therest of their day, children can be powerful. In play,children can arrange toys anyway they like; they canchoose which character to be and how to respond. Inthis way, the child is not passive but active. Erikson(1963) describes a child playing as being the masterover a microsphere; ‘the small world of manageabletoys’ (p. 221). Play allows children to control bothinnocuous situations such as deciding, ‘I’ll be themommy and you be the dog’ as well as to controlpreviously traumatic situations. By controlling eithertype of situation, the child asserts her agency.In pretend play, agentic thoughts may be improved

for two different reasons. First, by playing childrendevelop new skills (Singer et al., 2006), so they arecapable and can do more than they did prior toplaying. Secondly, children may gain a sense of agency

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and power by pretending to do things that they areincapable of actually doing. It is possible thatexperiencing a sense of agency during play maygeneralize to a sense of agency outside of play as well.

The pathways component of hope is also concep-tually related to pretend play processes. Pathwaythoughts tap perceptions of being able to produceone or more workable routes to goals This does notrefer to an individual’s actual problem-solving abilitiesbut an individual’s belief that she is capable of comingup with multiple alternatives. In pretend play, childrenfrequently engage in problem-solving and conflictresolution (Russ, 2004). If a child is playing out asituation and it does not work, he will try a new way.Because it’s pretend, the child can use both realisticsolutions and fantastical solutions, such as turning anenemy into a toad.

Although hope is theoretically related to pretendplay processes, to our knowledge, no studies have beencarried out which empirically examine the relationshipbetween play processes and hope. Future researchmight attempt to determine which aspects of hope (e.g.,agentic thoughts or pathways thoughts) are related towhich aspects of pretend play (e.g., imagination/fantasy, organization, comfort, or affect expression).

Implications for intervention and prevention programs

In addition to the areas of positive psychology we havereviewed, previous reviews have shown that training inpretend play can lead to positive changes in cognitivefunctioning such as problem solving, language skills,and impulse control (Fein, 1981; Christie & Johnsen,1983). More recently, reviews of the literature havefound that engaging in pretend play is positivelyassociated with literacy behaviors (Pellegrini &Galda, 1993; Roskos & Christie, 2001).

Given the important role that pretend play hasin child development and in children’s adaptivefunctioning, it is essential that we determine whetherwe can teach children to be better players. This raisesthe question of whether these improved play skills willaffect functioning in real-life domains, outside of therealm of play. Play intervention studies, which usescripts and manuals, provide some empirical evidencethat play skills can be improved.

In play intervention studies, manuals provide a basicoutline for the play trainer to use so that the essentialaspects of the intervention are included and standar-dized. Despite this aspect of standardization, manuals,if used appropriately, should not hinder the sponta-neous, intrinsic nature of play. Although modelingmay be one aspect of the intervention, often the playtrainer will follow the child’s lead and will praise thechild for playing in her unique manner. An appropriateplay manual will provide a framework for the

intervention which will then be developed jointlythrough the unique approaches of the child and playtrainer. Nevertheless, there should be a balancebetween following the manual and respecting thespontaneity of the child.Dansky (1999) reviewed the play tutoring literature

and found that ‘more than a dozen studies have shownthat play tutoring can increase not just the quantity ofplay displayed but also the richness and imagination ofchildren’s pretense’ (p. 404). Additionally, play tutor-ing, over a period of time, increased creativity on othermeasures. These play tutoring sessions usually involved8–12 group sessions with an adult who modeled andencouraged participation in social interactive pretense,with sessions spread out over 3–6 weeks. Dansky(1999) concluded that there were consistent positiveresults in studies with adequate control groups.In a recent preliminary study by Russ, Moore,

and Pearson (2007), the effectiveness of play interven-tions with first and second grade inner-city schoolchildren was investigated. The Affect in Play Scale(APS; Russ, 2004) was given as a baseline and outcomemeasure. Measures of creativity and coping were alsoadministered as outcome measures. There were twoplay intervention groups (instructions for imaginationor affect) and a control group (instructions for puzzles/coloring) to which children were randomly assigned.Each child met five times with a play trainer inindividualized standardized sessions. The major resultsof the study were that the affect play group showedsignificantly greater cognitive and affective skills on theAPS when compared with the control group. On theoutcome measures of creativity and coping, there weresignificant group effects. Trends revealed that theaffect play group had higher scores on divergentthinking than the other groups and the imaginationplay group had higher frequency of coping scores thanthe other groups. In a follow-up study 2–8 monthspost-intervention, Moore and Russ (2007) found thatthe imagination group had significantly better playscores than the control group.J. Singer and D. Singer (1999) developed a video-

based program for parents and other caregivers ofpreschool age children, which uses play and learninggames to strengthen school readiness skills. The tapeand manual provide clear examples and instructionsfor caregivers that model how to use play to helpchildren use their imagination and to learn. In a recentstudy using this intervention, Bellin and Singer (2006)found that play helped children to develop literacyskills.Because this research indicates that children’s play

skills can be improved through interventions and thosechanges may lead to optimal functioning in a variety ofdomains, pretend play interventions should be con-sidered a priority within the positive psychologymovement. Future research should refine, test, and

116 B.L. Pearson et al.

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develop these programs further. Individuals seeking to

optimize children’s functioning in social domains,

academic domains, or artistic domains may want to

consider pretend play intervention programs as a

means of doing so.

Future research: Questions and priorities

There are several important research questions that

should be addressed in the future. First, what is the

relationship between negative affect in play and

adaptive functioning? Negative affect themes in play

have been positively related to divergent thinking.

Conversely, negative affect in play has been positively

associated with maladaptive behaviors. The type of

negative affect (aggression versus sadness), severity of

negative affect (violence versus bickering), and the

integration of the affect into the story are important

variables for future investigation. Second, are play,

creativity, and coping linked through the process

of divergent thinking or are there other mechanisms

of more significant importance? Finally, will the

components of hope be found to be empirically

linked to pretend play processes? In general, we need

to investigate which specific processes in play relate to

and facilitate which specific areas of adaptive

functioning.Play intervention research is a priority for applying

what is known about play and adaptive functioning.

Future research should aim to develop play

manuals that target specific processes in play. Play

intervention and prevention programs that can be

easily integrated into a child’s day must be cultivated.

It must be ascertained empirically whether play

interventions can effectively teach children cognitive

and interpersonal skills. For example, could a child be

taught through play how to be more hopeful? Could

play interventions aimed at developing empathy

enhance friendship development? Those interested in

investigating and advancing children’s adaptation

should remember that pretend play is a vital resource

which naturally promotes flourishing.

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