Play and Emotion

Emotion and play are probably the most neglected of all human dynamics. Learning theory - the dominant paradigm of our day - essentially writes play and emotion out of their view of human nature. When you start with an assumption that all behaviour is instrumental and therefore modifiable by its outcome, neither play nor emotion qualify and so are outside their scope of study. Unfortunately, most parents and teachers and ‘experts’ still treat behaviour as learned - an assumption that proves absolutely false when viewed through the lens of emotion and play.

From the medical model (aka the disease or disorder approach) the focus is on what is wrong - that is, out of order, dysfunctional, abnormal. Play and emotion do not figure into this rather dismal view of human nature. This, despite the fact that all mental illness has now been traced to limbic (ie, emotional) system roots and most behavioural diagnoses are associated with a paucity of play in their history.

Fortunately emotion is now the primary focus of much of neuroscience, giving rise to a whole new field of study called affective neuroscience. And play has become an exciting multidisciplinary field of study, drawing in cultural anthropologists, evolutionary biologists, developmental psychologists, neuroscientists, historians and philosophers. The field has exploded with a plethora of new books and articles, providing plenty of fodder for the serious student and creating an enticing challenge for those of us who feel the need to put the pieces together.

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