How playful are YOU? Psychologists reveal the four types of 'play' personality - and say it could give people an advantage in life
- Four types of playfulness: other-directed, light-hearted, intellectual, whimsical
- Playfulness linked to good observational skills, ability to see new perspectives
- And, playful adults can even turn monotonous tasks into something interesting
- These people aren't always taken seriously, but study claims it is a 'positive' trait
When handling the many difficult situations life will throw your way, it might help to be a little bit playful.
While previous research has largely focused on this trait in children, a new study investigated the role of playfulness in the day-to-day lives of adults.
According to the psychologists, having an inclination toward playfulness could give these people an advantage – even though it sometimes causes others to not take them seriously.
When handling the many situations life will throw your way, it might help to be a little bit playful. While previous research has largely focused on this trait in children, a new study investigated the role of playfulness in the day-to-day lives of adults
The trait has been linked to good observational skills, and even the ability to see situations from a new perspective, or turn monotonous tasks into something interesting.
Playfulness is not to be confused with humour, the team from Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in Germany explains.
In adults, they say, it is an understudied trait that necessitates a new vocabulary just to describe it.
‘Models of childhood playfulness have often been transferred to adults,’ said Dr Dr René Proyer from the Institute of Psychology at MLU.
‘This results in the loss of many aspects including those related to romantic relationships or intellectual performance.’
To understand more about this trait, the researchers created a new model, using a 28-item questionnaire to assess four different types of playful adults: other-directed, light-hearted, intellectual, and whimsical.
While playfulness may overlap with some other personality traits, they say there’s a clear distinction between this and the ‘Big Five,’ which includes extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, openness to experiences, and emotional stability.
‘Playfulness is an independent personality trait that shares certain aspects with these five global dimensions but which cannot be interchanged,’ said Proyer.
‘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.'
Intellectual playfulness, on the other hand, includes people who like to play with thoughts and ideas.
According to the researcher, previous studies have largely focused on the trait among children. But when it carries over to adulthood, it may have a number of benefits
And, these people can turn monotonous tasks into something interesting.
They also describe those who are ‘whimsically’ playful.
‘These people tend to be interested in strange and unusual things and are amused by small day-to-day observations.’
While playfulness may sometimes be seen socially as something negative for adults to express, causing others to consider them unreliable or not take them seriously, the researchers say it should be regarded as a positive trait.
‘When looking for solutions to complex problems, they can easily change perspectives,’ Proyer says.
‘This allows them to find unusual and novel solutions.’
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