ABSTRACT
Experimental psychology tends to be rather a sober discipline, tough-minded not only in its procedures, but in its choice of topics as well. They must be scientifically manageable. No surprise, then, that when it began extending its investigations into the realm of early human development it steered clear of so antic a phenomenon as play. For even as recently as a decade ago, Harold Schlosberg of Brown University, a highly respected critic, had published a carefully reasoned paper concluding sternly that, since play could not even be properly defined, it could scarcely be a manageable topic for experimental research. His paper was not without merit, for the phenomena of play cannot be impeccably framed into a single operational definition. How indeed can one encompass so motley a set of entries as childish punning, cowboys-and-Indians, and the construction of a tower of bricks into a single or even a sober dictionary entry?
