Cosmic Play definitions of play

Play is the hobgoblin of animal behavior, mischievously tempting us to succeed in what, judging from the number of failed attempts, seems a futile task; defining play. – Robert Mitchell [1990: 197]

No behavioral concept has proven more ill-defined, elusive, controversial, and even unfashionable. – E. O. Wilson [1975: 164] (Burghardt, 2005, p. 45)

12 characteristics or attributes of play extracted from the literature from Burghardt (1984):

No obvious immediate function
Sequentially variable
Quick and energetically expensive
Most prevalent in juveniles
Breakdown of role relationships
Special “play” signals
Mixing of behavior patterns from several contexts
Relative absence of threat and submission
Relative absence of final consummatory acts
Stimulation seeking
Pleasurable affect

(Burghardt, 2005, p. 65)

Loizos (Scheckner, 2002) in discussing characteristics of play remarks:

One of [play’s] immediately noticeable characteristics is that it is the behavior that borrows or adopts patterns that appear in other contexts where they achieve immediate and obvious ends. When these patterns appear in play they seem to be divorced from their original motivation and are qualitatively distinct form the same patterns appearing in their originally motivated contexts. […] The fundamental similarity […] between human and animal play […] lies in the exaggerated in uneconomical quality of the motor patterns involved. Regardless of its motivation or its end-product, this is what all playful activity has in common; and it is possible that it is all that it has in common, since causation and function could vary from species to species. [Play Behavior in Higher Primates: A Review 228-229] (p. 91)

REPRESENTATIVE LISTS OF CHARACTERISTICS OF PLAY FROM FAGEN (1981, pp. 505-508):

Beckoff (1974c):

actions from various contexts are incorporated into unpredictable (labile) temporal sequences.
the “play bout” is typically preceded by a meta-communicative signal which indicates “what follows is play”; these signals are also observed during the bout.
certain actions may be repeated and performed in an exaggerated manner.
the activity appears “pleasurable” to the participants.

Loios (1966):

the sequence may be reordered.
the individual movements making up the sequence may become exaggerated.
certain movements within the sequence may be repeated more often than they would usually be
the sequence may be broken off altogether by the introduction of irrelevant activities, and resumed later. This could be called fragmentation.
movements may be both exaggerated and repeated.
individual movements within the sequence may never be completed, and this incomplete element may be repeated many times. This applies equally to both the beginning of a movement (the intention element) and to its ending (the completion element).

Marler & Hamilton (1966):

the normal temporal groupings of functionally related actions break down. Elements of a number of different types intermingle in the same behavioral sequence.
the sequences of a given type are disrupted.
the pattern of behavior in play is less dependent on the normal S-R relationship.

Symons (1978a):

the motor patterns observed in play are similar to those observed in other functional contexts.
play patterns may be incomplete.
play patterns may be inhibited
certain behavior patterns are unique to the play context.
play patterns may be exaggerated or uneconomical.
play occurs in different situations or as a result of different stimuli.
patterns may be repeated more during play than during the nonplay activity it resembles.
play patterns may be relatively unordered.
patterns from different functional spheres may alternate during play.
play is characteristic of immature animals.

XIII International Ethological Conference (1973) (cited in Weiss-Burger 1975; translated from the German):

exaggerated motor patterns
fragmented sequences of behavior
rapid alternation of behavior
mixture of behavioral acts from different social contexts (e.g., role change between flight and pursuit)
the same behavior directed at different stimuli (e.g., an animal bites and claws at part of its surroundings, then immediately treats a social partner likewise)
occurs most often in immature animals
occurs in a relaxed motivational field
lacks consummatory act

PLAY DEFINITIONS FROM FAGEN (1981):

Fagen offers his own definition:

I view play as behavior that functions to develop, practice, or maintain physical or cognitive abilities and social relationships, including both tactics and strategies, by varying, repeating, and/or recombining already functional subsequences of behavior outside their primary context. It is a matter of taste whether behaviors that do not simultaneously satisfy the structural, casual-contextual, functional, and developmental criteria of this definition are to be called play. In fact, we may define fifteen distinguishable categories of behavior based on the above concepts merely by enumerating the fifteen possible nonempty subsets of the four types of criteria in the definition above. The first five of these subsets are structural only; causal-contextual only; functional only; developmental only; structural and casual-contextual, but not functional or developmental. (pp. 65-66)

Representative definitions of play from Fagen’s (1981) appendix (pp. 500-504):

G. Bateson (1955, 1956):

Play is a phenomenon in which the actions of “play” are related to, or denote, other actions of “not play.” The play of two individuals on a certain occasion would then be defined as the set of all messages exchanged by them within a limited period of time and modified by the paradoxical premise system which we have described. Play is an onionskin system—a set of rules for communication—with an extra degree of freedom.

Beckoff (1972):

Social play is that behavior which is performed during social interactions in which there is a decrease in social distance between the interactants, and on evidence of social investigation or of agonistic (offensive or defensive) or passive-submissive behaviors ion the part of the members of a dyad (triad, etc.), although these actions may occur s derived during play. In addition, there is a lability of the temporal sequences of action patterns, actions from various motivational contexts (e.g., sexual and agonistic) being combined.

Curti (in Gilmore 1966):

[Play is] highly motivated activity which, as free from conflicts, is usually though not always pleasurable.

Fink (1968):

Play is finite creativity in the magic dimension of illusion.

Hall (1968):

Play . . . is a very broad term which includes almost any activity which, to the observer, seems to have no immediate objective. It therefore includes the manipulation of non-food objects, and the whole variety of sensorimotor performances that are “exploratory.” It also includes the complex social interactions that take place among young animals and sometimes between young animals and adults, these being thought to be highly important in the process of socialization of the young and possible in establishing relative ranks among the young which might carry over into the adult hierarchy.

Hinde (1970):

[Play is] a general term for activities which seem to the observer to make no immediate contribution to survival.

Huizinga (1950):

[Play is] a voluntary activity or occupation executed within fixed limits of time and place, according to rules freely accepted but absolutely binding, having its aim in itself and accompanied by feeling of tension, joy, and the consciousness that it is “different” from “ordinary life.”

Kaufman & Rosenblum (1966):

[Play is] those behaviors which are characterized by lightness, freedom of movement, a lack of tenseness, and an absence of stereotyped sequences. During such activities components are varied, and the roles of participants may be rapidly changing. Inanimate-object play . . . vigorous chewing, biting, manipulation, or carriage of an environmental object or toy.

Lazarus (in Gilmore 1966):

Play is an activity which is in itself free, aimless, amusing or diverting.

Marler & Hamilton (1966):

Play consists of elements drawn from other types of behavior and rearranged in new patterns of timing and sequence, along with certain (Primarily communicative) behavior patterns evinced only in play.

Seashore (in Gilmore 1966):

[Play is] free self-expression for the pleasure of expression.

Sutton-Smith (1971):

[Play is] an exercise of voluntary control systems with disquilibrial outcomes.

E. O. Wilson (1971b):

In mammals, play is comprised largely of rehearsals performed in a nonfunctional context of the serious activities of searching, fighting, courtship, hunting, and copulation.

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