Concomitants of Playfulness in Early Childhood: Cognitive Abilities and Gender
Abstract
Summary Previous research has noted a corresponding relationship between young children's play and divergent thinking ability. This research confounds intelligence factors and divergent thought processes and does not take into account sex differences, which have been shown to be pervasive in preschool children's play patterns. This original research is replicated with 92 preschool children who are rated on five components of playfulness, and then administered a battery of standardized tests assessing verbal intelligence and divergent thinking ability. Results were consistent with those found in the original investigation, yet differences emerged when the intelligence factor was partitioned from the analysis. Sex differences were found to mediate this result, with girls showing a positive relationship between play and divergent thinking and boys showing an inverse, and in some cases, absence of a relationship.
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There are data towards a positive relation between playfulness and divergent thinking.
“There are also data towards a positive relation between playfulness and divergent thinking (e.g., Barnett and Kleiber 1982;Truhon 1983).”
From The virtuousness of adult playfulness: the relation of playfulness with strengths of character (2011) · cites this paper as Barnett and Kleiber 1982
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The virtuousness of adult playfulness: the relation of playfulness with strengths of character
Proyer, R. T., & Ruch, W. (2011) · Psychology of Well-Being: Theory, Research and Practice · doi:10.1186/2211-1522-1-4 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
“There are also data towards a positive relation between playfulness and divergent thinking (e.g., Barnett and Kleiber 1982; Truhon 1983).”
Background
- Authors
- Barnett, L. A., & Kleiber, D. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- ORCID
- Barnett, Lynn A.
- Venue
- The Journal of Genetic Psychology
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 1982-09
- Volume
- 141
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 115-127
- ISSN
- 0022-1325 (ISSN-L)
- 1940-0896
- OpenAlex
- W1984267043
- Cited by
- 68
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 5 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 3 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 1 · 2014: 2 · 2013: 2 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 0.58
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- The Journal of Genetic Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Creativity in Education and Neuroscience
- Social Sciences › Education › Early Childhood Education and Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Neuropsychology and Physiological Psychology › Developmental and Educational Neuropsychology
- Keywords
- playfulness, early childhood, divergent thinking, sex differences, preschool children, verbal intelligence, cognitive ability, mediation
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