What Is Happening in Children’s Brains When They Are Playing Pretend?

Our brains are active while we learn, work, and even play! We wanted to find out what parts of the brain kids use when they play with dolls. Because pretend play with dolls might involve imagining how other people act and feel, we thought that the areas of the brain used for thinking about other people might be particularly important during doll play. If this is true, do kids use these parts of the brain in all types of pretend play or is there something special about playing with dolls? Are the brain regions that are important for thinking about other people used in the same way when playing with an iPad vs. with dolls? Do kids use the social parts of their brains when playing pretend on their own, or only with a friend? Let us talk about what we found!

Therapeutic Benefits of Adult Doll Play

This study explored the episodic memories and therapeutic benefits associated with adult doll play. Forty adult collectors described a significant interaction they had with their dolls and interpreted the meaning of the episode. They rated both their narratives and interpretations on 7-point scales. Then they completed four questionnaires reflecting on their motivations for joining the doll hobby, the aesthetic and therapeutic aspects of doll play, as well as play and fantasy and self-perception questionnaires developed in an earlier study. Principal components factor analyses were performed on all scales and questionnaires, and the factors were correlated. In addition, the narratives and interpretations were coded and thematically analyzed. Results show that attachment forms with imagined and situated characters during the customization and story making process. This bonding process was critical in creating meaning and rituals within the ball-jointed doll hobby. Implications for the clinical field and AI mediated devices were discussed.

Therapeutic Benefits of Adult Doll Play

This study explored the episodic memories and therapeutic benefits associated with adult doll play. Forty adult collectors described a significant interaction they had with their dolls and interpreted the meaning of the episode. They rated both their narratives and interpretations on 7-point scales. They then completed four questionnaires reflecting on their motivations for joining the doll hobby, the aesthetic and therapeutic aspects of doll play, as well as play and fantasy and self-perception questionnaires developed in an earlier study. Principal components factor analyses were performed on all scales and questionnaires, and the factors were correlated. In addition, the narratives and interpretations were coded and thematically analyzed. Results show that attachment forms with imagined and situated characters during the customization and story making process. Attachment and bonding was critical in creating meaning and rituals within the ball-jointed doll hobby. Implications for the clinical field and AI mediated devices were discussed.

Understanding Fantasy and Adult Doll Play Through Regression in Service of the Self

This study explored doll play activities involving adult doll collectors, and students who participated in an experimental story creation task which incorporated dolls/toy images and urban/landscape settings. It was expected that a secure versus insecure sense of self would perform a mediating role. The study involved two data collections: Online and Laboratory. Both phases used a 10 item questionnaire regarding participant’s sense of self. The online phase measured attitudes about fantasy and play, along with creative aspects of the doll hobby by adult collectors. The laboratory phase sought to determine whether doll play activity involving undergraduate students could be simulated in a laboratory setting. We found that in both samples, a positive correlation was found between insecure sense of self and fantasy proneness. This indicates that adult collectors and to an extent undergraduates may utilize fantasy (e.g., world building) and doll play as an act of defensive regression to resolve internal conflicts. Subsequently, a negative correlation between planning the doll aesthetic and fantasy proneness was found in the adult collectors’ sample, which may indicate regression in service of the self.

Black Girls and Dolls Navigating Race, Class, and Gender in Toronto

Doll play is critical in the formation of young black girls’ gender, race, and class identities. In this article, I use textual analysis that emphasizes how physical changes in dolls correspond to contextual shifts in society over the last seven decades, and qualitative research with ten Afro-Caribbean girls and young women in Toronto to reveal the racial and cultural meanings of dolls in young people’s everyday lives and how doll play is complicated by racist and classist representations of dolls. By exploring what doll play meant to them, I show how it helps black girls understand racial and gendered norms. Through doll play, girls reveal an understanding of their racialized identities and marginalization as they demonstrate unacknowledged skills in their ability to navigate barriers that reinforce racial inequalities and social hierarchies in girls’ material culture in a multicultural Toronto.