The development of play in infancy: in relation to the affordances of the objects in the daily environment

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K22253
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: :Education and related fields
• Research Institution: Chukyo University
• Principal Investigator: Nishio Chihiro 中京大学, 心理学部, 講師 (50879939)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-09-11 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: 遊び / 発達 / アフォーダンス / 生活環境 / 乳児

Outline of Final Research Achievements

This study investigated the infants' spontaneous play with everyday objects and examined the influence of the object interaction in the living environment on the development of play in relation to the affordance perception. The longitudinal observation was conducted in infants' homes, and their interactions with a wide variety of objects in their living environment, including daily necessities and toys, were analyzed. Infants explored affordances of various objects, and as their locomotion ability developed their object play began to involve carrying them with containers. Taking objects out of and putting them in containers and storage was frequently observed in the early ages as a play and the behavior developed through integration into the social environment. These findings suggest that rearranging objects in the daily context influences social development and long term cognition.

Free Research Field

発達心理学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

近年、国内外で日常環境における乳児による物での遊びや、物の頻繁な運搬に焦点を当てた発達研究が行われている。物を運ぶことが他者への手渡しにつながり、社会性の発達に関係することや、周囲の物の多様さが語彙獲得に影響を与えることなどが示唆されている。本研究の成果は、これらの知見とも合致するものであり、物での遊びという観点から、社会性や認知の発達について検討する可能性を示した。また、本研究の知見は保育施設における環境デザインに対して援用可能なものである。