Do you know someone who is playful in different situations, can easily see things from new perspectives, and can turn monotonous tasks into something interesting? Do you also notice that somehow good things seem to happen to them and they get through life rather smoothly? Psychologists from Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) may have an explanation for this.
Unlike research on playfulness in children, little research has been conducted on playfulness in adults. “Models of childhood playfulness have often been transferred to adults. This results in the loss of many aspects including those related to romantic relationships or intellectual performance,” explains Dr René Proyer from the Institute of Psychology at MLU. Playful people are able to reinterpret situations in their lives so that they experience them as entertaining or are able to reduce stress levels.
The research, which has appeared in the international journal ‘Personality and Individual Differences’, points out that being playful is not the same as being humourous and we might need a new vocabulary to describe it. Playfulness has an overlap but no redundancy with the big five personality traits frequently used to describe personality. These include extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experience and emotional stability. “Playfulness is an independent personality trait that shares certain aspects with these five global dimensions but which cannot be interchanged,” explains Dr Proyer. The study also shows that people who describe themselves as playful are also viewed by others as such. Furthermore, playful people act out their propensity in many day-to-day situations.
The psychologists identified four basic types of playful adults: “There are people who like to fool around with friends and acquaintances. We describe this as other-directed playfulness. By contrast, light-heartedly playful people regard their whole life as a type of game,” says Proyer. Another category includes people who like to play with thoughts and ideas; this describes intellectual playfulness. These people are able to turn monotonous tasks into something interesting. The researchers describe the final group as being whimsically playful. “These people tend to be interested in strange and unusual things and are amused by small day-to-day observations.”
The studies reveal that playfulness in adults is expressed in very different ways and should be regarded as a positive trait. However, in some parts of the world, playful people are sometimes not taken seriously or are seen as unreliable. This is unjustly because, says the study, “When looking for solutions to complex problems, they can easily change perspectives. This allows them to find unusual and novel solutions.”
The study also provides incentives for other areas of research, such as evolutionary psychology. More research is expected to come up in the future.
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