Play Experience as Individual Ability and a Factor of Individual Resistance to Psychosomatic Disorders

Abstract

The paper analyzes the constructs of ‘play experience’ and ‘play experiencing ability’ from the perspective of cultural-historical psychology. The paper stresses the importance of education, play, art, wealth and cultural diversity in the formation of healthy and independent personality. The role of play experience as a healthful factor that allows an individual to acquire resistance to psychosomatic disorders is supported both theoretically and empirically. It is argued that the individual capable of play experience can transform the meaning of a situation (within his/her play experience) and therefore eliminate its psychotraumatic effect which contributes to the development of psychosomatic disorders. The paper provides outcomes of an empirical research with 73 participants (40 female, 33 male; aged 18—45, with the average age of 25 years). The statistical analysis revealed a significant inverse correlation between the level of the individual’s play experiencing ability and the level of his/her somatization (rs = -0,435; p ≤ 0,01), which confirms the research hypothesis.

Keywords

• personality
• experience
• play
• play experience
• play experiencing ability
• psychosomatics