Abstract
Abstract Mind wandering is a natural component of pretend play in children. We can conceptualize much of the ideation that is expressed in play as thoughts, images, memories, and fantasies that are experienced in a spontaneous fashion. Ideas drift and flow, and pretend play provides an outlet for this content. Pretend play involves self-generated thought. This conceptualization of play is consistent with recent neurological findings of the default network as being active in spontaneous thought and creativity. Pretend play is related to measures of creativity in many studies. Mind wandering and pretend play involve spontaneous associations. Remote associations occur and can be combined and manipulated into new patterns. In pretend play, these thoughts are expressed and put into a narrative that is coherent and meaningful. Thus, pretend play utilizes fantasy and associations by integrating them into a narrative. In that sense, play involves both divergent thinking and convergent thinking. The child is going back and forth between illogical, emotion-laden fantasy and bringing critical evaluative thinking to that content. In psychoanalytic theory, this switching back and forth between illogical and logical thought is termed adaptive regression, which relates to creativity. Creativity scholars agree that both types of processes are involved in creativity. Research in the area is reviewed, and examples of play are presented. Through pretend play, children learn to become comfortable with ideas and fantasy, especially with affect-laden thoughts, to express it, and to utilize it in creative acts.
Published Version
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