14 - Play and motivation

Summary

Introduction

In this chapter, an attempt is made to redefine the concept of play as a prime example of the complex nature of human motivation. My aim is to show that the social context and social activity individuals are engaged in, rather than individual inner states, are basic determinants of the motivation of children's play.

I first provide an overview of play as a historically developing activity. Next, I employ object orientation and object construction, with their inner contradictions, as basic categories of analysis of motivation. These conceptual tools are then used in the analysis of videotaped play sessions in Finnish kindergartens and reconstructed episodes of the same types of play as they occurred 23 years ago in the lives of educators now working in kindergartens.

Conceptualizing play

Functions of play are defined in different ways, and different functions lead to different explanations of motivation. In Groos's (1922) theory, the main function of children's play is to prepare for adult life. From this viewpoint, the content of play, as well as its relation to the adult world, is important. In other approaches, the essence of play and its main function are denned in terms of independence from the adult world. According to Csikszentmihalyi (1981), we can talk about play only when the rules of reality are suspended. If a girl feeds and dresses a doll in a way that resembles the usual cultural manners, this is not play in the actual meaning of the term because there are no experimental elements exceeding the usual cultural limits.