The virtuousness of adult playfulness: the relation of playfulness with strengths of character

Proyer, Ruch, Ruch Willibald

Description

It was hypothetisized that playfulness in adults (i.e., the predisposition to play) is robustly associated with the "good character." Playfulness in adults can be tested via a global cognitive evaluation and an instrument for distinguishing five different facets of playful behaviors (spontaneous, expressive, creative, fun, and silly). Character strengths can be assessed within the framework of the Values-in-Action (VIA) classification of strengths. Results Data were collected in an online study and the sample consisted of 268 adults. A regression analysis revealed that adult playfulness was best predicted by humor, the appreciation of beauty and excellence, low prudence, creativity, and teamwork. As expected, single strengths (e.g., creativity, zest, and hope) demonstrated strong relations with facets of playfulness with its fun-variants yielding the numerically highest relations. The fun-variant of playfulness was most strongly related with emotional strengths while intellectual strengths yielded robust relations with all facets of playfulness. Strengths of restraint were negatively related with spontaneous, expressive, and silly-variants of playfulness. Conclusions The findings were in line with expectations and are discussed within a broader framework of research in playfulness in adults. The results indicate that playfulness in adults relates to positive psychological functioning and that more studies further illuminating the contribution of playfulness to well-being in adults are warranted.

Sujets

• Humor
• VIA

Informations

• Publié par: biomed
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 15
• Langue: English

Extrait

Proyer and Ruch Psychology of Well-Being: Theory, Research and Practice 2011, 1 :4 http://www.psywb.com/content/1/1/4

R E S E A R C H Open Access The virtuousness of adult playfulness: the relation of playfulness with strengths of character René T Proyer * and Willibald Ruch

* Correspondence: r. [e-mail] Department of Psychology, Division on Personality and Assessment, University of Zurich, Binzmühlestrasse 14/7, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland

Abstract Background: It was hypothetisized that playfulness in adults (i.e., the predisposition to play) is robustly associated with the “ good character. ” Playfulness in adults can be tested via a global cognitive evaluation and an instrument for distinguishing five different facets of playful behaviors (spontaneous, expressive, creative, fun, and silly). Character strengths can be assessed within the framework of the Values-in-Action (VIA) classification of strengths. Results: Data were collected in an online study and the sample consisted of 268 adults. A regression analysis revealed that adult playfulness was best predicted by humor, the appreciation of beauty and excellence, low prudence, creativity, and teamwork. As expected, single strengths (e.g., creativity, zest, and hope) demonstrated strong relations with facets of playfulness with its fun-variants yielding the numerically highest relations. The fun-variant of playfulness was most strongly related with emotional strengths while intellectual strengths yielded robust relations with all facets of playfulness. Strengths of restraint were negatively related with spontaneous, expressive, and silly-variants of playfulness. Conclusions: The findings were in line with expectations and are discussed within a broader framework of research in playfulness in adults. The results indicate that playfulness in adults relates to positive psychological functioning and that more studies further illuminating the contribution of playfulness to well-being in adults are warranted. Keywords: adult playfulness, character strengths, humor, playfulness, VIA, virtuousness

Background Researchers have spent much effort in the study of play – especially of play in children (e.g., Barnett 1990; Schaefer et al. 1991). However, there is comparatively little litera- ture on playfulness as a personality characteristic and even less on playfulness in adults . Playfulness is the predisposition to engage in playful activities and interactions (Barnett 1991a, b). Barnett (2007) suggested as a definition: “ Playfulness is the predis- position to frame (or reframe) a situation in such a way as to provide oneself (and pos- sibly others) with amusement, humor, and/o r entertainment. Individuals who have such a heightened predisposition are typica lly funny, humorous, spontaneous, unpre- dictable, impulsive, active, energetic, adventurous, sociable, outgoing, cheerful, and happy, and are likely to manifest playful behavior by joking, teasing, clowning, and act- ing silly ” (p. 955). © 2011 Proyer and Ruch; licensee Springer. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.