Children's imaginative play : a visit to wonderland / Shlomo Ariel ; foreword by Brian Sutton-Smith.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ariel, Shlomo.

Series:

Child psychology and mental health.

Child psychology and mental health

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Play--Psychological aspects.

Play.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (213 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Distribution:

London : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2024

Place of Publication:

Westport, Conn. : Praeger, 2002.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

In this visit to the wonderland of children's imaginative, make-believe play, readers are be exposed to both a general, bird's-eye view of the whole of this fascinating realm, and to a closer look at its diverse regions. This volume examines the borderlines between make-believe play and akin phenomena such as dreams, drama, and rituals. Readers will become acquainted with the secret codes of make-believe play. These codes are activated in both covert and overt power struggles among children as well as in the child's internal theater of emotions. Readers will have the opportunity to examine these uses by looking at real-life sociodramatic play scenes. Also, the development of make-believe play and its interface with the child's general cognitive and socioemotional development is traced. This volume enables readers to consider children of various cultures at play, and investigates whether make-believe play and its characteristics are universal or culture-specific. Make-believe play has been investigated across fields including cognitive, clinical, developmental, and social psychology, as well as linguistics, anthropology, and sociology. In this book, a comprehensive, integrative model is proposed, in which all of these approaches are synthesized into a single, coherent whole. The unifying hypothesis behind this synthesis is that make-believe play is a semiotic system, a body of signs and symbols, a language by means of which children express themselves and communicate. This language enables children to regulate and balance both their inner emotional life and their social life. Another central hypothesis is therefore that make-believe play functions as an homeostatic feedback mechanism for controlling the level of arousal around the child's central concerns, as well as the level of interpersonal conflict around issues of social proximity and power. Therapeutic and education applications of make-believe play are derived from these hypotheses and their ramifications.

Contents:

Cover

CHILDREN'S IMAGINATIVE PLAY

Contents

Series Foreword

Foreword

NOTE

Preface

Introduction

1 What Is Make-Believe Play?

A DEFINITION OF MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY: IT'S ALL MENTAL

A Definition of Make-Believe Play

MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY AND ITS CLOSE RELATIVES

Other Forms of Play

Imitation

Symbolic Representation

Pretending

Fantasy and Imagination

Storytelling

Drama

Delusions

Rituals

SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 1

A CLASSIFIED LIST OF REFERENCES

Definitions of Make-Believe Play and Their Cognitive Substrata

Distinctions Between Make-Believe Play and Other Phenomena

The Use of the Past Tense in Pretend Play

Make-Believe Play as Improvisational Theater

2 The Cryptic Codes of Make-Believe Play

MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY AS A SEMIOTIC SYSTEM

The Scope of the Term "Language"

Analyzing a Particular Make-Believe Play Text

ANALYSIS OF A DYADIC MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY TEXT

Observation 1: Peace Forever

DISTINCTIVE FEATURES OF THE LANGUAGE OF MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY

Observation 2: The Kittens Are Being Born

Observation 3: The Pirate and the Shark

SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 2

Analysis of Language and Other Symbolic Systems

Componential Analysis

Analysis of the Linguistic and Logical Peculiarities of Make-Believe Play

Make-Believe Play as a Semiotic System

Techniques of Textual Analysis Applied to Make-Believe Play

3 Make-Believe Play as a Diplomatic Language

THE REALM OF IMAGINATION AS AN ARENA OF POWER STRUGGLES

"PROXIMITY" AND "CONTROL" AS KEY CONCEPTS IN THE ANALYSIS OF INTERPERSONAL RELATIONS

Observation 4: Easy Riders

TYPES OF CONCRETE IMAGES OF PROXIMITY AND CONTROL

THE PLAYING CHILDREN AS MASTER STRATEGISTS

TYPES OF "DIPLOMATIC MEANS" FOR ACHIEVING PROXIMITY OR CONTROL GOALS.

IN PRAISE OF THE METHODICAL LITTLE PUPPETEERS INSIDE THE GIRLS' HEADS

SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 3

Proximity and Control as Fundamental Social Parameters

Channeling Conflicts to Play

Social Functions of Play

4 Mini-Legal Systems Regulating Sociodramatic Play

THE CULTURAL SPECIFICITY OF MINI-LEGAL SYSTEMS

A SAMPLE OF LAWS

Leadership Laws

Participation Laws

Territory Laws

Possession Laws

Interrelations among Laws

Sanctions against Lawbreakers

THE NATURE OF "LEGAL" NEGOTIATIONS

Observation 5: The Magic Finger or the Sword?

ADULTS' RULES AND CHILDREN'S LAWS

SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 4

Mini-Legal Systems

Play-Related Social Interactions

5 Make-Believe Play as an Emotional Moderator

A COMPLEX MECHANISM MEDIATES BETWEEN PLAY AND THE CHILD'S EMOTIONAL LIFE

Observation 6: The Soldier and the Submarine

INFORMAL ANALYSIS OF "THE SOLDIER AND THE SUBMARINE"-DETECTING THE EMOTIONAL REGULATION MECHANISM

Scene 1: Curiosity, Adventurousness, Courage, Aesthetic Interest

Scene 2: Panic, Tension, Unrest, Acting Out of Distress

Scene 3: Rest, Gradual relaxation, Recovery

Scene 4: New Dangers and Fears

A PRINCIPLED PSYCHOLOGICAL EXPLANATION FOR THE EMOTIONAL MECHANISM REGULATING PLAY

APPLYING CDCA TO "THE SOLDIER AND THE SUBMARINE"

THE VALIDITY OF THE CDCA OF "THE SOLDIER AND THE SUBMARINE"

Observation 7: The Naughty Teddy Bear and the Mixed-Up Rooster

SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 5

Regulative Mechnisms

Theories of Emotions and Cognition

The Functions of Play as an Emotional-Regulative Mechanism

6 Make-Believe Play and the Developing Child

THE DEVELOPMENTAL STAGES OF MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY

The Beginning of Make-Believe Play

The Middle Stage-The Third and Fourth Years.

Observation 8: Secrets

Observation 9: The Plane and the Washing Machine

The Latest Stage-Sociodramatic Play

Sense Perception and Attention

Memory

Observation 10: The Very Funny Truck

Creative thinking and problem solving

Insight, Introspection and Self-awareness

Organization and Planning

Observation 11: The Naughty Teddy Bear and the Mixed-Up Rooster (a fuller version)

Knowledge and Understanding of the World

Observation 12: The Power of Good and the Power of Evil

Socialization

The Waning of Make-Believe Play

SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 6

Make-Believe Play and Social Development

Make-Believe Play and Cognitive Development

Research on Play Development

7 Make-Believe Play in a Cross-Cultural Perspective

ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH OF MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY-THE METHODOLOGICAL LIMITATIONS

TYPES OF ANTHROPOLOGICAL EXPLANATION

APPROACHES TO SOCIALIZATION RESEARCH

MODERN VERSUS TRADITIONAL CULTURES

ADULTS' ATTITUDES TOWARD CHILDREN'S PLAY IN DIFFERENT CULTURES

ARE WORK AND FORMAL SCHOOLING DONE AT THE EXPENSE OF PLAY?

ARE THERE CULTURES IN WHICH CHILDREN DO NOT PLAY MAKE-BELIEVE GAMES AT ALL?

IS THE MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY OF TRADITIONAL CHILDREN PURELY MIMETIC?

IS THE MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY OF TRADITIONAL CHILDREN COLLECTIVISTIC?

IS THE MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY OF TRADITIONAL CHILDREN MOLDED INTO TRADITIONAL FORMATS?

IS THE MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY OF CHILDREN OF LOW-INCOME FAMILIES AND TRADITIONAL SOCIETIES DULLER?

CROSS-CULTURAL COMPARISONS OF THE LEVEL OF MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY

DO TRADITIONAL CHILDREN HAVE PLAY-RELATED "MINI-LEGAL SYSTEMS"?

Excerpt 1

Excerpt 2

Excerpt 3

Excerpt 4

RELATIONS BETWEEN SOCIAL STRUCTURE, SOCIALIZATION AND THE NATURE OF SOCIODRAMATIC PLAY

HOW GENERALIZABLE ARE THE RESULTS OF THE ORANIM STUDY?.

SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 7

Theoretical Orientations in Anthropology

Modern versus Traditional Societies

Theoretical Studies, Bibliographies and Literature Reviews on the Anthropology of Play

Ethnographic Studies of Make-Believe Play

8 Applications of Make-Believe Play in Education

EDUCATIONAL PLAY DIAGNOSIS

TRAINING IN MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY SKILLS

IN VIVO INSTRUCTION IN MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY SKILLS

ACTIVE INVOLVEMENT IN THE CHILDREN'S PLAY FOR SPECIFIC EDUCATIONAL GOALS

Enhancing Self-control

Overcoming Negativism

Teaching Arithmetic by Make-believe Play

SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 8

The Role of Make-Believe Play in Education

Techniques of Training in Make-Believe Play Skills

9 Play Therapy

MAIN PLAY THERAPY METHODS

Psychoanalytic Play Therapy

Jungian Play Therapy

Adlerian Play Therapy

Child-Centered Play Therapy

Cognitive-Behavioral Play Therapy

Ecosystemic Play Therapy

EVALUATION OF PLAY THERAPY METHODS

AN INTEGRATIVE THEORY OF PLAY THERAPY

The Scope of the Theory and the Language in Which It Is Formulated

Explaining the Etiology of Symptoms-Dysfunctional Attempts to Restore Lost Simplicity

The Goals of Play Therapy-"Debugging" the Information-Processing System and Restoring its Simplicity

Make-Believe Play as a Debugging Instrument-Bug-Busters

Bug-Busters Derived from the Definition of Make-Believe Play

Bug-Busters Derived from the Emotional-Homeostatic Functions of Make-Believe Play

Bug-Busters Derived from the Social-Communicational Functions of Make-Believe Play

Make-Believe Play as a Vehicle of Therapeutic Communication

MAKE-BELIEVE PLAY DIAGNOSIS

INDICATIONS FOR REFERRAL

SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 9

Play Diagnosis

Methods of Play Therapy.

Integrative Play Therapy

Models Guiding Practice

Summary and Apologia

Appendix: Analyzing a Make-Believe Play Text-Procedures and Heuristic Techniques

INTRODUCTION

Observation 13: The Shrunken People

AN INFORMAL ANALYSIS OF "THE SHRUNKEN PEOPLE"

Excerpt 5

Excerpt 6

A FORMAL ANALYSIS OF "THE SHRUNKEN PEOPLE"

First Step: Identifying and Describing Signifier-Signified Units

Substep 1 (analyzing signifiers into types of expressive media across time)

Substep 2 (analyzing the tabulated observation into minimal signifier-signified units)

Second Step: Identifying and Describing Structures

Third Step: Identifying and Describing the Uses of Structures, Their Creators' Presuppositions and Purposes

Fourth Step: Spelling Out the Uses of Out-of-Play Structures that Say Something about In-Play Structures

MACROSCOPIC ANALYSIS AND RULE FORMULATION

Fifth step: Formulating Rules

Context-Dependent Componential Analysis

CDCA of a Sample of Minimal Signifiers Produced by Avshalom

CDCA of a Sample of Minimal Signified Produced by Avshalom in "The Shrunken People"

How Do the Results of the CDCAs Facilitate the Formulation of Rules?

Correspondence Between Signifiers and Signified

Fluctuations of Energy and Potency in the Play Text

Avshalom's Sequence List

Sharon's Sequence List

A Syntactic Rule Governing the Play Interactions Between Avshalom and Sharon

Tracing Purposes and Presuppositions to Arrive at the Players' Goals and Plans

References

Index

About the Author.

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [185]-202) and index.

ISBN:

979-84-00-62548-0

1-280-42301-3

9786610423019

0-313-01261-X

OCLC:

53369818