Psychology Today: “The Art and Science of Play”

The Art and Science of Play: Creative play permeates the lifework of Desmond Morris:

Desmond Morris, now in his 80s, is a surrealist painter perhaps best known for his popular books on ethology, including The Naked Ape, Manwatching, and Animalwatching. In his early career, Morris was also an Oxford trained scientist… Over the many decades of work, what tied all these activities together, for Morris, was play.

For most species play primarily occurs early in life. But humans go cats (and indeed, all other playful animals) one better. In our species the evolutionary development of neoteny, which involves the retention of juvenile physical characteristics in mature individuals, has also prolonged the play impulse well into adulthood. This means that exploratory behaviors, driven by curiosity for the novel and pursuit of the effective, do not disappear with childhood or youth but persist, especially in the play-like endeavors of art and science. “[A]dult play,” Morris has said, “is what gives us all our greatest achievements — art, literature, poetry, theatre, music and scientific research.”

The play of art and the play of science meshed his [Morris’] different interests into one complementary whole. Ever the observer, Morris draws certain conclusions from this experience: “[T]here must always be time set aside for playful innovations, for subjective explorations; in short, for the poetic and the mysterious alongside the objective and rational,” he has written. The choice is not between work and play, but to suffuse work with play. The choice is not to separate people into artists or scientists, but to “encourage them to be both at once.” For “in reality,’ Morris believes, “people…are explorers or non-explorers, and the context of their explorations is of secondary importance.”

This post on Psychology Today is gold as far as I’m concerned. It speaks to two play-related topics that are discussed far too little (both primary interests of mine): adults at play & play in the workplace.

My belief is simply that play is deeply connected to the human experience. Current cultural norms tend to squeeze out play wherever it’s found, especially in adults (and now even in children, over-scheduled with extracurricular activities and over-schooled). Still, though, in adults the draw to play breaks through — video games and theme parks are proof of that.

Technologies are both manifestations of our world views and shapers of those world views. This is why I hold such hope for playful technologies and playful design. I think that well-designed, incredibly fun play technologies can be irresistible — drawing in all ages, becoming an integral part of daily life, and shaping our cultures to accept play as deeply human and not mere triviality.

(via Stuart Brown, M.D.)