Young children spend considerable time in educational settings, in which traditionally, their primary occupation is play. A playful preschool environment has been related to better cognitive, social and emotional development. Although it is assumed that teachers' playful behaviors are important in creating a playful school environment, empirical knowledge on this subject is lacking. The current...

Abstract Background: It was hypothetisized that playfulness in adults (i.e., the predisposition to play) is robustly associated with the “good character.” Playfulness in adults can be tested via a global cognitive evaluation and an instrument for distinguishing five different facets of playful behaviors (spontaneous, expressive, creative, fun, and silly). Character strengths can be assessed wit...

There is a growing body of research into Mobile Information and Entertainment Services in recent years. This study explored the effect of mobile service quality and its compatibility to mobile technology on users’ perceived playfulness toward these services. Perceived Service Quality and Perceived Technology Compatibility were found to influence users’ Perceived Playfulness. Furthermore, Percei...

It was hypothesized that playfulness in adults relates positively to different indicators of subjective but also physical well-being. A sample of 255 adults completed subjective measures of playfulness along with self-ratings for different facets of well-being and the endorsement to enjoyable activities. Adult playfulness demonstrated robust positive relations with life satisfaction and an incl...

With the proliferation of hedonic information systems, understanding users’ acceptance of hedonic information systems has become a new topic for practitioners and academics. While perceived playfulness or perceived enjoyment has been found to have a significant influence on the behavioral intention to use hedonic information systems, little research has been conducted to investigate empirically...

Compared with playfulness in infants and children, playfulness in adults is relatively under-studied. Although there is no empirical research comparing differences in adult playfulness across cultures, one might expect variations between Western and Eastern societies such as China. While playfulness is typically seen as a positive trait in Western culture, there are hints in Chinese culture tha...

Globalization and the multitude of technological changes that have affected societies in recent years have introduced complex and diverse problems into the daily lives of individuals. Indeed, great effort is expended to create rich and abundant lives, especially in the age of the knowledge economy. In this context, “creativity” has come to be seen as the most precious human asset. Many scholars...

Recent discussions within the HCI community around designing software and devices for “coolness” have identified the importance of playfulness as an aspect of cool products. Game studies, as a field of inquiry, has long been occupied with understanding playfulness, so it stands to reason that findings from this field might also support playfulness and therefore coolness outside the context of g...

The prime aim of this set of studies was to test the disposition to play (playfulness) in adults in its relation with various measures of personality but also ability (self-estimated but also psychometrically measured ingenuity). Study 1 (n = 180) shows that adults playfulness relates primarily to extraversion, lower conscientiousness, and higher endorsements of culture; joy of being laughed at...

Play and playfulness compose an essential part of our lives as human beings. From childhood to adultness, playfulness is often associated with remarkable positive experiences related to fun, pleasure, intimate social activities, imagination, and creativity. Perhaps not surprisingly, playfulness has been recurrently used in NIME designs as a strategy to engage people, often non-expert, in short ...