04 Oct Vygotsky’s “Head Taller” Metaphor for Play
October 4, 2012
In my work as a developmentalist, I am an advocate of, doer of, and studier of play. I grapple with both implementing and understanding what Lev Vygotsky said: “In play a child always behaves beyond his average age, above his daily behavior; in play it is as though he were a head taller than himself” —and its practical applications and implications for people of all ages.
Having begun a three-session East Side Institute Revolutionary Conversation last night (where we touched on play quite a bit) and preparing today for a keynote address on play, performance and pretense that I’ll give in a few weeks at the Association for Experiential Education international conference, I’ve been playing with play today. Here’s some thoughts to ponder and comment on—and aid me in my thinking/speaking!
Vygotsky tells us that it’s the interplay of imagination—which frees us, and rules—which constrain us, that makes play potentially developmental. The action created in the “imaginative sphere” frees the players from situational constraints and, at the same time, imposes constraints of its own. In this way, “play creates a zone of proximal development of the child… Action in the imaginative sphere, in an imaginary situation, the creation of voluntary intentions, and the formation of real-life plans and volitional motives – all appear in play and make it the highest level of preschool development.”
This freedom from environmental constraints (“reality”) in free play has similarities with theatrical play, or performance, especially the unscripted, improvisational kind. In both free and theatrical play, the players are more directly the producers of their activity, in charge of generating and coordinating the perceptual, cognitive and emotional elements of the play. When I look at children’s free play with this performance lens, I see the value of play in a new light.
For most psychologists and educators the value of play is that it facilitates the learning of social-cultural roles. Through acting out roles (play-acting), children “try out” the roles they will soon take on in “real life.”
I get this, but I think it skips over the paradox of pretend play—when children are pretending, they are least like what they are pretending to be! When they play school they are least like teachers and students because teachers and students in school are not playing at being teachers and students, but rather acting out their societally determined roles. Children playing school, or Mommy and Daddy, or Harry Potter and Dumbledore, are not acting out predetermined roles. They are creating new performances of themselves—at once the playwrights, directors and performers. They are creating culture. This is how I make sense of Vygotsky’s understanding that in play the child acts as though a head taller —that the developmental potential of play is as performed activity and not as behavioral acting. Not only for chidren but for us all.
loisholzman
Posted at 00:31h, 07 OctoberThanks, Raquell. Keep performing as an analogy-maker!
loisholzman
Posted at 00:29h, 07 OctoberThanks so much, Ernesto, for your insightful post. In improv language, I take it as a “yes, and” to mine; in Vygotsky’s language, a “completion.” I agree with what you say. The one thing I have a different way of thinking about is what you call emotional truth as emerging progressively. I think of emotionality as being created progressively.
Raquell Holmes
Posted at 16:24h, 05 OctoberI like also what is highlighted in your last paragraph, performed activity. The performed activity creates, is the process of development. It is different than practicing to be a doctor, or teacher, as though the child is developing a cognitive map of the performance. I love analogies and so am trying to create some biological analogy to the developmental process of performed activity. I don’t have one. Maybe the creation of the butterfly’s cocoon. It is something created by the catepillar that is critical to its becoming a butterfly, yet it is not a butterfly. Our cocoons,performed activity/play, just have the disceptive characteristic of looking like butterfiles. 🙂 Hmmm, thinking in writing. Thanks for the interesting post.
Ernesto Vasquez
Posted at 00:04h, 05 OctoberDear Dr Holzman,
Wittgenstein came to mind as I read, with great interest and delight, the captivating last paragraph of your post, Vygotsky’s “Head Taller” Metaphor for Play .
Perhaps the paradox of pretend play can be resolved by focusing no further than on what you write and taking it to a higher level of generality , that is, to the level of creativity.
Creativity is in the between of illusion and “reality.” As you say, when children play, they are creating new performances of themselves; and the developmental potential of play is as performed activity. My suggestion is that what prompts and simultaneously finds expression in performed activity is emotion, the emotional truth of who we are as human beings which sometimes becomes unconstrained in play.
What may account for the ‘head taller’ metaphor is not only body language, but its crucial element of facial (read, emotional) expression, an almost luminous or radiant one, all of which becomes a special form of demeanor. At all ages, we all are a work in progress. The emotional truth of who we are along the way emerges progressively, if we are lucky, in the new performances of ourselves which are always irreducibly relational events.
I love Vygotsky. His thoughts in ‘The Psychology of Art’ may also have a bearing on the above, particularly his distinction between an artistic production and a work of art. The latter being the one that reveals a higher truth about humans and human life. And sometimes we ourselves in community may be that work of art, instead of the usual piece of work!
Ernesto Vasquez, MD