Building ‘Social Hardiness’ for Life: Rough and Tumble Play in the Early Years of Primary School

The first modern ethological study of human R&T was undertaken by Neil Blurton Jones, in 1967. He trans-

ferred observation techniques used by Harlow and

Harlow (1965) in monkey R&T studies into human deve-

lopmental research, carrying out pilot studies of chil-

dren’s R&T play within several London nursery schools.

He reported a pattern of running, chasing and play