The Genesis of Animal Play: Testing the Limits (Bradford Books) Book

In The Genesis of Animal Play, Gordon Burghardt examines the origins and evolution of play in humans and animals. He asks what play might mean in our understanding of evolution, the brain, behavioral organization, and psychology. Is play essential to development? Is it the driving force behind human and animal behavior? What is the proper place for the study of play within the cognitive, neural, and behavioral sciences? The engaging nature of play--who does not enjoy watching a kitten attack a ball of yarn?--has made it difficult to study. Some scholars have called play an unquantifiable mystery; others have eclared that it doesn't really exist. Using the comparative perspectives of ethology and psychology, The Genesis of Animal Play goes further than other studies in reviewing the evidence of play throughout the animal kingdom, from human babies to animals not usually considered playful. Burghardt finds that although playfulness may indeed have been the driving force behind what we consider distinctive in human (and mammalian) behavior, it could only develop through a specific set of biological conditions that led to a unique interaction of developmental, phylogenic, ecological, and physiological processes. Part I offers a detailed discussion of play in placental mammals (including children) and develops an integrative framework called surplus resource theory. The heart of the book, however, and perhaps the most controversial section, lies in the seven chapters in part II in which Burghardt presents evidence of playfulness in such unexpected groups of animals as marsupials, birds, reptiles, and "Fish That Leap, Juggle, and Tease." Burghardt concludes by considering the implications of the diversity of play for future research, and suggests that understanding the origin and development of play can shape our view of society and its accomplishments through history.Read More