The Adaptive Functions of Play in Evolutionary Psychology • Play behaviors have adaptive functions. • Juvenile play is often neglected in evolutionary psychology. • Few studies until recently have shown definitive adaptive functions of play. Transcript: Speaker 2 Yeah, usually the stuff that gets highlighted within evolutionary psychology that’s close to play would be kind of categorized under say a courtship behavior like dance or something Like that or sports are some kind of status recognition sort of thing, but that kind of tends to neglect. Why say juveniles, like kids are maybe playing like cops and robbers or jumping around and playing the floor is lava or those sorts of things aren’t talked about as much. Speaker 1 Yeah, I think that part of the problem is that people just don’t know how to approach play and because there’s been few studies until recently that actually show definitively adaptive Functions of play. So there’s been a search and arguments for years and what is the functional (Time 0:18:07)
The Many Functions of Play • Studies have recently shown adaptive functions of play. • There are many different types of play with varying functions. • Functions of play can involve courtship behavior, social skills, learning, and stress buffering. Transcript: Speaker 1 Yeah, I think that part of the problem is that people just don’t know how to approach play and because there’s been few studies until recently that actually show definitively adaptive Functions of play. So there’s been a search and arguments for years and what is the functional play, why do animals play as if there’s a single function. It’s learning social skills or there’s been lots of proposed benefits of play, but very little evidence that finitive evidence until recently. And now what we’re finding is that there are lots of different kinds of play. It’s a very heterogeneous category, and that a play may have no functions or several functions or in one type of play might have certain kind of function and kind of play may have a different Type of function. And so, is there’s no simple answer. And so again, we’re now making pretty good progress into some of the functions of play involving in our dating courtship behavior and reproduction or aiding in learning certain types Of skills or how to interact socially. But or to buffer oneself against stress. That’s one of the things I think we’re going to find out more and more that kids and animals that engage in a playful interaction, (Time 0:18:52)
The Oldest Basketball Player at the Zoo: How a Reptile Curator Proved that Turtles Can Play Transcript: Speaker 1 Had a label on it saying the oldest basketball player at the zoo. And there was really creative as a zoo curator who had been trained in reptile behavior. He was the reptile curator at the zoo. And they had this big turtle in the sort of barren concrete tank. And it was sort of self injuring itself and mutilating itself. And so he had the idea that no one really had before that maybe the turtle was bored. And so he started providing objects hoops and balls and basketballs and things like this. And the turtle would knock them around and engage in activities playful activities with these objects. And then the self injurious behavior really fell off dramatically. And so we documented film that and that was sort of the first paper that really helped document that turtles could play a reptile could play. And this started changing the idea that play was found only in mammals and some birds, but may also be far more widespread in the animal kingdom evolution early. But in order to get to this position, you have to come up with a definition of play, what is play. And that turns out not to be a simple issue and you go into early literature, and you’ll find all kinds of definitions of play. (Time 0:32:25)
The Widespread Nature of Play in the Animal Kingdom: Defining Play and Its Criteria Transcript: Speaker 1 And this started changing the idea that play was found only in mammals and some birds, but may also be far more widespread in the animal kingdom evolution early. But in order to get to this position, you have to come up with a definition of play, what is play. And that turns out not to be a simple issue and you go into early literature, and you’ll find all kinds of definitions of play. Well, most of them only apply to certain kinds of play they’ll talk about like social signals and so on. Well, that’s only works for social play. And so try to come up with a generic definition that could cover all play, including phenomena that you would not think were play and also in species that you thought couldn’t play like Fish, for instance, was sort of a challenge. And so that’s where one of the things I had to really start and come up with what I ended up coming up with five criteria for identifying play that seem to apply across the board. And they’ve been sort of fairly widely adopted now and people now have identified and recorded play in invertebrates, you know, octopus that you’re wearing an octopus. (Time 0:33:34)
Playful behavior in octopuses and other animals - a foundational aspect found in both invertebrates and vertebrates Transcript: Speaker 1 Right. No, one they ask her, I think. Yeah. And I haven’t had a chance to see it yet, but I know people who have and they’re very much impressed with it. But there’s quite a bit out there now on play in octopuses. And another invertebrates and fish, there’s now been well documented and in lizards and crocodilians. Even in snakes, there might be some playful behavior, although it’s harder to identify an animal that can’t do too much in terms of facial expressions and. Right. It’s limbs and stuff like this. So it makes a little harder to identify. Yeah. But that was one of the things that I think helped broaden our interest in play so that’s not just something that’s found in a few isolated endothermic vertebrates and thus not of general Interest, but it really may be much more foundational. And when you find that invertebrates and vertebrates who have been separated by 600 million years, at least evolution still have comparable behavior means that there’s something Going on there. It also means that play is not a homologous kind of activity, something that evolved once in one way and that was it. But it’s all, you know, like eyes and limbs and other things they evolved repeatedly in different context. (Time 0:35:37)
The Function of Play and Play Fighting in Animals Transcript: Speaker 1 Right, so one of the first of people wave people say, well play is something that doesn’t have function because just frivolous or just done for its own sake, which can be true, but how Do you separate what you call play fighting from regular fighting well it’s there are certain criteria that you can show them ones really agonistic and injury producing is not, but When you see animals engaging in play or sort of tap with a mouse, for instance, or a rubber ball, it’s not trying to hunt or eat or kill that animal, but so it’s incompletely functional, But it may be functional it may be adaptive in helping the animal learn how to respond to objects, learning, you know, body motor coordination, it may have an exercise function. So you may engage in rigorous activity that doesn’t seem to be functional, but it’s actually helping your heart, it’s helping, you know, your bodily functions in some other way. So there are many ways in which play can, as I say, be useful, but not necessarily in the way that you see it. So play fighting, it was thought, well, they’re practicing playing for when they have to do real fights as adults, but studies showed that these animals that are engaged in play fighting Doesn’t really help them when they fight for real. Similarly, early studies showed that… (Time 0:38:54)
Effect of Playful Experiences on Hunting Skills in Cats • Kittens having playful experiences with no offense doesn’t affect how good of hunters they are later. • Multiple studies in the 70s confirmed this finding. • Play is more common in good captive environments. Transcript: Speaker 2 So are you telling me that cats that chase more lasers don’t also end up bringing more birds home because they’ve honed their skills? Speaker 1 Well, they’re all about the laser part, but no, studies have actually shown that giving kittens playful experiences with the predatory play where they have absolutely no offense. No effect on how good hunters they are when they’re done. Wow! That’s fascinating. Speaker 2 Yep. Speaker 1 Okay. These studies done back in the 70s, and that helped sort of seal the fade. Speaker 2 Well, it can’t be there very important then, right? Speaker 1 But that might actually be important in different ways, including just getting rid of boredom. The fact that you find play in many species much more common in good captive environments, in zoos and so on, that you do (Time 0:40:39)