The Adaptive Qualities of Leisure: A Cross-Cultural Survey

Recent research has considered the “benefits of leisure” from psychological, physiological , and social perspectives. Such studies, while valuable, have overlooked an even more fundamental benef i t , that i s , the poss ible contribution of leisure to human adaptation. The concept of adaptation holds that those who possess environmentally favored forms, whether biological, behavioral, or cultural, should out compete those less favored. This compet i t ion leads to a movement of the mean population value of the characteristic under consideration toward the more favored form. A review of past research and a cross-cultural survey of game-types suggests several possible adaptive qualities of leisure.