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The Social Psychological Function of Play

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The Social Construction of Landscapes in Games

Part of the book series: RaumFragen: Stadt – Region – Landschaft ((RFSRL))

Abstract

The analysis of the social-psychological functions of play encounters two peculiarities. First, it is not possible to find a unified definition of play as well as to easily distinguish play from non-playful actions. For this reason, definitions from different scientific contexts are presented first. The other peculiarity refers to social psychology. There is no significant research on the functions of play there, although there would be significant overlaps in content. This article draws connections between social psychology and the subject area of play and illustrates the complexity of the social psychological functions of play in human life: From identity development to self-location in a group to innovation processes, play possesses a prominent role. Finally, selected extensions of the social psychological research perspective are proposed, namely the ‘opening of the borders’ towards sociology as well as towards spatial science, in order to soften the ‘social and spatial oblivion’ of social psychology.

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  1. Hochschule Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany

    Kai Schuster

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  1. Kai Schuster
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  1. Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Bochum, Germany

    Dennis Edler

  2. Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Olaf Kühne

  3. Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany

    Corinna Jenal

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Schuster, K. (2022). The Social Psychological Function of Play. In: Edler, D., Kühne, O., Jenal, C. (eds) The Social Construction of Landscapes in Games. RaumFragen: Stadt – Region – Landschaft. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-35403-9_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-35403-9_3

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