PEERSCHAPTER 8

SOME DEFINITIONS….

• Peer – Another child of roughly the same age

• Short interactions, minimal commitment

• Friend – A peer with whom the child has a special relationship

• Regular, sustained interactions, reciprocal liking and respect

• Dyads – Interactions between pairs of children

• Groups - Cliques, teams, and crowds with norms, rules, and hierarchies

PLAY AND PRETEND PLAY (SUTTON-SMITH & KELLY-BYRNE, 1984)

• Play: activities that are pursued for their own sake.• Only motivation is the enjoyment received from play• Becomes more complex as children age• Ex: banging pans together; playing hopscotch

• Pretend Play: make-believe activities in which children create new symbolic relationships• Object Substitution: using a broom to represent a horse• Sociodramatic Play: playing doctor, teacher• Emerges around 18 months

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE TOY OR GAME AT

•Age 2?

•Age 3?

•Age 5?

TYPES OF COGNITIVE PLAY (SMILANSKY, 1968)

Type Description

Functional Play Simple repetitive muscle movements with or without objects

Constructive Play Manipulation of objects to construct or create something

Dramatic PlaySubstitution of an imaginary situation to

satisfy the child’s personal wishes and needs

Games with rules Acceptance of prearranged rules and the adjustment to these rules

TYPES OF SOCIAL PLAY (PARTEN, 1932, 1933)

• Observational study of 34 nursery school children, aged 2 to 4.5• Observed daily for 1 minute at a morning free play hour to reach total of 60

minute observations

• Group Size: All children typically played in groups of 2, but the size of the group increased with age

• Most popular activities: sandbox, playing family/house/dolls, trains, kiddie-car• As children aged, preference for activities became more complex

• Youngest: preferred sandbox

• 3-year olds: preferred family/house/dolls

• Older: clay, paper, paints

TYPES OF SOCIAL PLAY (PARTEN, 1932, 1933)Type Description

Unoccupied Play Play limited to child’s own body. Child is occupying self with anything of interest in the environment.

Solitary Play Child plays alone and his focused on his own play.

Onlooker PlayChildren watch or talk to other children engaged in play

activity. Asks questions or gives suggestions, but not involved in play activity.

Parallel PlayChildren play in similar activities, often side-by-side. Do not

interact with each other. Play BESIDE rather than WITH other children.

Associative PlayChildren play with other children. Interact by sharing toys and commenting on each other’s activities. Not working

together on the activity.

Cooperative PlayChildren play with each other and are not completely

interacting. Cooperating, reciprocating, sharing common goals.

GENDER DIFFERENCES IN TYPES OF PLAY

GIRLS• Quiet games, small groups, near

school buildings, close to adult supervision

• Prefer play involving artistic endeavors, books, or dolls

• Like unstructured activities

• Are more intimate and exchange more information than boys

• Dyadic Play

BOYS

• Active-Forceful Play

• Play high-energy, run-and-chase games in large groups that take up nearly 10 times as much as space as girls’ play

• More competitive in their play than girls are

• Prefer organized games controlled by rules

• Group Play

CAUSES OF TYPES OF PLAY (PARTEN, 1932, 1933)• Age

• Negatively correlated with Unoccupied, Solitary, Parallel• Positively Correlated with Associative, Cooperative

• IQ• Negatively correlated with unoccupied, solitary, onlooker• Positively correlated with Parallel, Associative, Parallel

• Gender of Peer• Playing with same-sex friends increases gender-stereotypes play activities• Mixed-sex play involves no non-stereotyped activities

• Greater pretend play if• High SES and Educational Level of Parents• Discuss inner states with siblings during play

OUTCOMES OF PLAY• More complex cognitive and social play

• Role taking - Empathy, Role-taking – Spatial egocentrism, popularity, maturity, high self-esteem, better ToM

• The Bad - Nonsocial Play in preschool linked to following outcomes in late childhood/adolescence

• Peer rejection, social anxiety, loneliness, depression, low self-esteem, low academic performance

• The Good - NonSocial Play

• May provide indicator of low social responsiveness (e.g., autism)

• Develops emotions and language, independent/maturity, attention spans, task persistence, problem solving by self and with peers, high self-esteem

VIDEO ACTIVITY!

• Video #1

• Video #2

• Video #3

• Video #4

• Video #5

• Video #6

• Unoccupied• Solitary• Onlooker• Parallel• Associative • Cooperative