Creativity and Play
Explore how play can foster a creative mind
American parents today hear a barrage of conflicting messages about raising children, none more contentious at times than the amount of free time or time given to children to simply explore and discover on their own, without time limits, established “play dates” or structured play in preschools or grade schools.
The debate actually begins early in a child’s life, even from the time of babyhood, continuing through high school (see also Childhood Developmental Psychology). Scared by news reports of falling test scores of U.S. children compared to other nations, some parents begin flashing word cards in front of their infants so that they learn to talk and read as early as possible. Others pay exorbitant amounts of money to get their children’s names on waiting lists for the best academically oriented preschools – even before the child is born.
Play seems secondary to many educational experts and parents seeking to propel their children into successful academic careers. Many of these beliefs stem from the so-called “Protestant Work Ethic” that has affected the way many Americans thought beginning in the early 20th century. This the belief held that if someone only works hard, at whatever he or she pursues, much of what an individual wants will become available – including prosperity.
Tiger Moms
Other more recent comparisons are made between the expectations of Asian parents compared to American parents, such as that exemplified by Amy Chua’s 2011 book, “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother.” Chua, of Chinese descent, wrote harshly about the “cuddling style” of American parents while describing her exorbitantly harsh standards for her children.
Cognitive processes developed through play:
- Organization. The ability to tell a story that is logical and shows signs of cause and effect.
- Divergent thinking.The ability to generate a number of ideas, stories, products, and solutions to open-ended problems or situations.
- Symbolism. The ability to transform ordinary objects (blocks, Legos) into representations of other objects, such as Legos becoming food items, or blocks becoming cars.
- Fantasy/Make-believe. The ability to pretend to be in a different reality, a different time and alternate space.
Adapted from “Play in Child Development and Psychotherapy,” by Sandra W. Russ
This American style of parenting that Chua criticizes includes giving children too much unstructured time for play, and more creative pastimes, both considered paramount in importance to professionals who work in the field of the psychology of creativity. (see Psychology of Creativity).
Chua didn’t allow her daughters to go on play dates or to sleepovers. They absolutely couldn’t take part in useless activities such as crafts, participate in a school plays, or play video games. Her daughters, threatened by her with screaming, threats, and shaming – even burning their stuffed animals - had to practice their musical instruments every day for hours. If they weren’t first in their class in all subjects, Chua drilled them on the subjects until they regained their supremacy. Drills included long, endless hours of doing math problems, or rewriting an essay over and over until it was perfect.
She writes that one of her most effective methods was to tell her daughters of the shame and disgrace they would bring upon the entire family if they did not win any competition they entered. Life is competition to this Chinese Tiger mother, and the only way to succeed is to win. Those who come in second or worse are failures. Her proof that her methods work is that her daughters received straight A’s, won prestigious musical competitions, and performed at places like Carnegie Hall. Her oldest daughter is attending an Ivy League college.
Emotional processes developed through play:
- Expression of emotion. The ability to express happiness, sadness, and anger through play. For example, the child has her stuffed animals clap when happy, or cry when sad.
- Expression of emotional themes. The ability to express emotional images and content. For example, building a castle with swords and cannonballs to prepare for a battle.
- Comfort and enjoyment. The ability to enjoy and “get lost” in the play experience. For example, a young girl getting lost in her mother’s closet playing dress up.
- Emotion regulation and modulation. The ability to contain and modulate both positive and negative emotion.
- Cognitive integration. The ability to integrate emotion into cognition. The child expressed emotion through narrative and a cognitive context. For example, the child tells a story of aggression through a story about war.
Adapted from “Play in Child Development and Psychotherapy,” by Sandra W. Russ
After Chua’s book came out to significant fanfare and press coverage, the Internet exploded with blogs and chats either supporting or denouncing Chua’s viewpoint. Psychology blogs and websites dedicated to the development of creativity especially voiced concern over her book – and parenting style.
Psychologists who study creativity, those undertaking the empirical research into how creativity develops and imagination contributes to its growth, strongly believe that play is essential in human growth and development. In other words, playing without a mother guarding a child’s every move, sleepovers, and garbage pastimes (Chua’s words) like crafts have a larger purpose than what appears on the surface.
Developmental psychologist Alison Gropnik views childhood as a kind of incubation stage for individuals’ future lives. "This stage serves a critical purpose", says this internationally recognized researcher and writer on children’s and baby’s cognition and learning. In her many books and papers, Gropnik argues that imagination, which researchers now believe children as young as 18 months old possess, is not simply a random frivolity. Imagination, Gropnik told seedmagazine.com, “seems to be something innate and connected to how we understand the causal structure of the real world.”
Only through creative, imaginative exploration of the world is the child able to figure out all the possibilities for how the world currently functions, and how it could be different. Through play, children learn how other people – and their cultures – work.
Importance of imaginary friends
In her book, “The Philosophical Baby,” Gropnik uses the example of children creating imaginary friends and worlds as part of this exploration into understanding the world. For years, psychologists believed that kids invented imaginary friends because they were confused between reality and fantasy. Both Sigmund Freud and Jean Piaget held to this belief, so others followed the thinking of these eminent psychological thinkers.
However, Gropnik states, psychologists now know this isn’t true at all, that children actually do know the difference. When studied and questioned, these children know that their imaginary friends are in fact “imaginary,” and their real friends are “real.”
In her book, Gropnik uses the example of her niece growing up within the New York City culture. This niece had an imaginary friend named Charlie Ravioli, but this friend was always too busy to play with her. So the niece would leave messages on Charlie’s answering machine, messages that said things like “Charlie could you get back to me.”
Gropnik states that this example demonstrates that even though her niece was only 3, she had already discovered how people interact and function in a place like New York. In this way, the child was exercising her understanding of possibilities, similar to how others question possibilities, such as Einstein asking “what would happen if the speed of light were different?”
Gropnik’s advice to parents is to just let kids explore. Don’t hover and don’t direct their play. Let children discover, build, and create on their own. This activity that adults have labeled as “play” is actually learning, building important skills for future adults. Adults draw on the information they learned through play as children to make significant contributions in their careers, and to the world.
"I was not a good student. I didn't like school at all. I lived in a nice neighborhood, Flatbush in Brooklyn. At the time it was a nice neighborhood and safe. You could play ball on the streets all day long. The only thing I regret -- but I regret it only in fantasy because I don't know what it would have been like -- I wish my parents had raised me in Manhattan because I think it's the greatest thing you can do for a kid is to raise them in New York City. I can see this with my own children. Within a radius of 20 blocks of the house there is theater and museums and opera and, you know, everything, stores. It's a great, exciting place."
–Woody Allen, from Cranky Critic® StarTalk
Play, creativity, and executive functioning
Many other psychological researchers also connect play and creativity with another critical component of human development: that of building executive function skills. These skills controlled by the brain’s frontal lobes (see Brain Structure) but also now believed by many neuroscientists to involve many areas of the brain, control key thinking mechanisms, such as working memory and cognitive flexibility. Executive function also controls self-regulation, meaning having the capacity to control impulsivity, emotions, and apply self-control and discipline when required.
Children who do not have highly developed executive functioning skills are more likely to become high school dropouts, substance abusers, and get involved with criminal activities.
"A child’s greatest self-control occurs in play."
-Lev Vygotsky, Russian psychologist, author of Psychology of Art
Psychology researcher Deborah Leong said in the NPR article “Creative Play Makes for Kids in Control” that today play has changed from the “freewheeling imaginative play” of dressing up and pretending to be pirates, princesses and heroes to sitting and playing video games or watching television. When not involved with these passive pastimes, they are in sports leagues or lessons, activities regulated by adults.
Leong, also the director of the Tools of the Mind Project at Metropolitan State College of Denver, said that while these modern activities aren’t all necessarily negative, they don’t teach kids how to regulate themselves.
Tools of the Mind is a research-based early childhood program that builds strong foundations for school success in preschool and kindergarten children by promoting their intentional and self-regulated learning. The website states that current research shows that self-regulation, often called executive function, has a stronger association with academic achievement than IQ or entry-level reading or math skills.
Still other researchers point to the importance of creative play and activities like sleepovers as teaching another, highly essential skill: that of working in groups. Creativity researchers know that whether in the classroom, boardroom, or small business environment, creativity blossoms among those who are able to work together and get along. And perhaps there isn’t another better way to learn social and cultural principles for getting along than during play.
The Tiger mom book by Amy Chua suggests many more questions than answers. In the end, however, Chua does expose some fallout from her parenting style – problems that she has said in interviews – impelled her to write the book. While her oldest daughter Sophia, the one now attending a prestigious college, generally went along with her mother’s draconian parenting, her youngest daughter Lulu rebelled, starting in her teens.
Chua recounts how she finally decided to stop making all of Lulu’s decisions, permitting her to leave the orchestra and take up tennis instead. She only has to practice her violin when she feels like it. A far cry from the three hours or more practice each night Chua used to require – even while on vacation.
For those who study the psychology of creativity, the Chua family is an interesting case study, and researchers will undoubtedly keep tabs on these girls for many years to see what future careers they select, and what creative outputs they will contribute or fail to contribute.
If you are interested in studying the psychology of creativity, on its affect on human growth and development, you should consider a degree in psychology. In addition to the field of Human Growth and Development, many other fields have specializations in creativity and creativity courses, including Cognitive Psychology, Social Psychology, Educational Psychology, and Media Psychology. Some schools offer degrees specifically in creativity studies, while others offer certificates. Contact psychology schools for more information.
Play and adult creativity
Young children play in highly original and open-minded ways, according to psychologists who study creativity. They don’t “self-edit” themselves in terms of responses, trying to conform to what society or peers expect of them. They are impulsive, and more spontaneous, and both of these qualities lead to high levels of creativity.
Adults have many responsibilities, and are less impulsive. They are more bound by rules, often losing their open-minded ways, and as a result, according to psychologists, sacrifice the type of thinking that leads to original and creative ideas.
Darya L. Zabelina and Michael D. Robinson, psychology researchers from North Dakota State University, wanted to see if inducing a childlike mindset in adults facilitated more creative outputs. For their study, they assigned 76 undergraduates a writing assignment. In a controlled situation, the participants wrote about what they would do if school were cancelled for the day. However, half of the individuals were to imagine that they were 7-years-old. In other words, they manipulated the mindset of adults into thinking they were once again children.
The researchers hypothesized that those allowed a childlike mindset would score objectively higher on levels of originality than those using an adult mindset. They used the Torrance Test of Creativity (TTCT) to measure the results.
Indeed, the writing of those who considered themselves 7-year-old turned out more creative than the adults. The researchers stated their conclusions in the journal article “Child’s Play: Facilitating the Originality of Creative Output by a Priming Manipulation” in Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts.
Some psychologists believe that changes in creativity result from how the brain matures and grow, with the area responsible for rule-based behaviors, the frontal cortex, developing more slowly than other brain areas.
Other psychologists believe that the educational system does not promote creativity, instead structuring learning environments and approaches in more conventional ways. In other words, learning systems and structures dissuade and stifle creative thoughts and behaviors.
Zabelina and Robinson, on the other hand, blame tasks themselves on the reduction in adult creativity. By manipulating mindsets, they hypothesize that many individuals would be able to induce “a spirit of play and exploration characteristic of childlike thinking.”