HumanBecoming - Play for Flourishing

Play as a Means for Human Flourishing

Technical Characteristics

Nature (what we're born with) and nurture (what we experience) don't work separately or compete with each other; instead, they constantly interact. Our genes influence how we respond to our environment, and our experiences can influence how our genes are expressed (Bjorklund, 2018). Because of this back-and-forth process, scientists no longer ask how much behavior comes from nature versus nurture. Instead, they study how the two work together to shape how people develop (Bjorklund, 2018).

Epigenetic regulation represents the most direct chemical link between nature and nurture, as environmental experiences (early-life stress, nutrition, or caregiving) can add chemical markers like methylation to inherited genes, thereby influencing whether and to what extent those genes are expressed across the lifespan (Bjorklund, 2018).

Child plasticity is an evolved adaptation, whereby basic attentional and perceptual biases, which (through probability and pattern recognition) are shaped through species-typical experiences such as play & social interaction, allowing universal human traits to emerge only when development occurs within the expected environmental context (Bjorklund, 2018).

Expected growth trajectory/needs as a function of age.

Play becomes more diverse as age increases, with exploration, imagination, and social influence asfactors.

During Toddlerhood, children participate in Exploratory and Manipulative Play. During this, they build their knowledge foundation (knowing what things are) (Doebel & Lillard, 2023).

During Early Preschool, Symbolic Play becomes frequent, and children build cognitive control (Knowing how to follow rules and restrain impulses) (Diamond et al., 2007).

During Ages 4-7, emotional resilience is built as a product of Mature Socio-Dramatic Play (thinking before acting, e.g., drawing plans, making rules, assigning roles) and Adventure and Independent Play during middle childhood (engagement in Risky Play, e.g., climbing heights, being near large bodies of water, handling fire).

The Risky Play acts as exposure therapy, helping children overcome fear and build self-confidence, while the independent/adventure play promotes self-reliance as kids take full responsibility for their decisions.

The Mature Socio-Dramatic Play improves working memory when the kind remembers who is playing the game and what the agreed-upon rules are. It promotes inhibitory control when children must restrain themselves from behaviors that don't fit their role (a child playing "baby" must resist the urge to order others around). Social regulation occurs during the dramatization of social norms, helping them internalize these rules for use in real-life social contexts (waiting for others to "eat/drink" while playing house).

Ideal conditions to support flourishing.

Through perceived risky and exploratory play, children build emotional resilience and conceptual knowledge, helping them overcome phobias and take responsibility for their own decisions (Doebel & Lillard, 2023; Rosin, 2014). Ultimately, this process fosters the independence (Rosin, 2014; Bjorklund, 2018) and creativity required to navigate the physical and social worlds as self-reliant adults (Rosin, 2014; Bjorklund, 2018).

Genetic influence on traits such as IQ is context-dependent, becoming more pronounced in highly supportive environments and less influential in contexts with limited resources, where environmental factors play a larger role (Bjorklund, 2018). At the same time, children use information from their early environments to shape their developmental pathways, adopting life-history strategies that reflect adaptive responses to local conditions rather than deficits (Bjorklund, 2018). Introducing a plethora of environments to your child will help them.

This is all to say that play is a fundamental engine for cognitive, social, and emotional development, serving as the primary way children acquire cultural competence and the skills necessary for adulthood. Play provides low stakes-environments to exercise executive functions such as inhibitory control and working memory by requiring children to follow social rules, inhibit impulses, and plan complex scenarios (Doebel & Lillard, 2023; Diamond et al, 2007).

Expected Variations

Development is not a uniform progression, but rather a series of adaptive responses shaped by a child's specific biology, culture, and environment (Bjorklund, 2018). Variations are often features that are functional for a specific time in a child's life rather than just shortcomings to be overcome (Bjorklund, 2018).

Even universal biological inputs can produce different results based on a child's genetic makeup. Early-life stress or malnutrition can cause chemical changes affecting cortisol levels and internalizing behavior throughout their life (Bjorklund, 2018).

Threats to flourishing

Exclusion/Separation: Dangers of social exclusion/rejection are insecure attachment, higher avoidance, and reinforced categorization of the out-group or in-group.

Ways to mitigate: Enforce "No-Exclusion" rules inside play areas. Intentional Peer Rotation. Keeping a watchful presence. Alternate Roles. (Schools that have suspended playground rules have reported a decrease in bullying because children were too engaged and busy with the "loose-parts" of the playground to seek out trouble).

Overly Gendered Play can directly influence autonomy levels and lead to biased evaluations of a child's executive function. Play is the mechanism through which children acquire culture-specific skills; if play is overly gendered, it restricts the "repertoire" of skills a child can master. If children are discouraged from certain types of play, they may miss out on practicing the specific steps and cognitive demands (initiating, monitoring, and switching subtasks) required by other domains.

Ways to mitigate: Programs like "Tools of the Mind" aim to mitigate this by ensuring children interact with every other child in the classroom and alternate between diverse roles, preventing outcasts or cliques.

Field notes / Observation guide. What signs to look for?

A child's environment serves as a signal that "calibrates" their developmental strategy. Children in harsh or unpredictable environments may adopt a "fast life-history strategy," which can result in reaching sexual maturity earlier and developing a cognitive profile that favors task-shifting and flexibility over long-term inhibitory control (Bjorklund, 2018).

Certain behaviors that appear to be deficits are actually typical developmental milestones. Preschoolers typically overestimate their own abilities, which is actually beneficial as it builds self-efficacy and encourages them to persist at difficult tasks they might otherwise quit (Bjorklund, 2018).