The Adult Playfulness Scale: An Initial Assessment
Abstract
We develop a theory-based measure of adults' playfulness, the Adult Playfulness Scale. Five studies, conducted in laboratory and field sites with over 300 individuals, examine the psychometric properties and correlates of playfulness. As expected, playfulness relates to a set of psychological traits, including cognitive spontaneity and creativity, as well as to functional orientation and rank. No definitive relationships were found, however, between adults' playfulness and gender or age, but playfulness related positively to work outcomes, including task evaluations, perceptions, involvement, and performance, and provided more predictive efficacy than other psychological constructs studied here. Finally, the Adult Playfulness Scale demonstrates good reliability and shows promise for the study of playfulness in the workplace.
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Creativity is frequently seen as incremental to playfulness.
“For example, creativity is frequently seen as incremental to playfulness (e.g., creative playfulness in Glynn and Webster 1992).”
From The virtuousness of adult playfulness: the relation of playfulness with strengths of character (2011) · cites this paper as Glynn and Webster 1992
Glynn and Webster report satisfying internal consistencies and test-retest correlations and a robust factor solution for the APS.
“Glynn and Webster (1992) report satisfying internal consistencies and test-retest correlations and a robust factor solution for their instrument.”
From The virtuousness of adult playfulness: the relation of playfulness with strengths of character (2011) · cites this paper as Glynn and Webster 1992
The SMAP showed correlations in the expected direction and range with the need for play scale, the APS, and a list of adjectives based on Barnett's study, interpreted as support for convergent validity.
“Furthermore, he found correlations in the expected direction and range with the need for play scale of the Personality Research Form (Jackson, 1984), Glynn and Webster's (1992), (1993) Adult Playfulness Scale, and a total score out of a list of adjectives set together based on Barnett's (2007) study, which was interpreted as support for its convergent validity.”
From The virtuousness of adult playfulness: the relation of playfulness with strengths of character (2011) · cites this paper as Glynn and Webster's (1992), (1993)
Cites
Toward a cognitive social learning reconceptualization of personality
Mischel, W. (1973) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/h0035002 · Cited by 3,181 · see citing works
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A model of user adoption of interface agents for email notification
Serenko, A. (2008) · Interacting with Computers · doi:10.1016/j.intcom.2008.04.004 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
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
“…in adults with flow-experiences (Csikszentmihalyi 1975), enhanced group cohesion (Bowman 1987), creativity and spontaneity (Barnett 2007; Glynn and Webster 1992, 1993), intrinsic motivation (Amabile et al. 1994), quality of life (Proyer et al. 2010), decreased computer anxiety…”
BackgroundInfluentialUnderstanding and Measuring User Experience in Conversational Interfaces
Kocaballi, A. B., Laranjo, L., & Coiera, E. (2019) · Interacting with Computers · doi:10.1093/iwc/iwz015 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
- Authors
- Glynn, M. A., & Webster, J.
- Affiliations
- Yale University (US)
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Glynn, Mary Ann
- ORCID
- Webster, Jane
- Venue
- Psychological Reports
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 1992-08
- Volume
- 71
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 83-103
- ISSN
- 0033-2941 (ISSN-L)
- 1558-691X
- OpenAlex
- W2149798250
- Cited by
- 282
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 31 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 18 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 12 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 14 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 11
- FWCI
- 2.19
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Psychological Reports (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Creativity in Education and Neuroscience
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Keywords
- playfulness, psychometric properties, creativity, functional orientation, RANK, work outcomes, employee performance, task evaluation, scale development
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