Part One: Introduction and Overview ; 1. Introduction ; Anthony D. Pellegrini ; Part Two: Definitions ; 2. Defining and Recognizing Play ; Gordon M. Burghardt ; 3. Cultural Variations in Beliefs about Play, Parent-Child Play, and Children's Play: Meaning for Childhood Development ; Jaipaul L. Roopnarine ; Part Three: Theories ; 4. Theories of Play ; Patrick Bateson ; 5. Comparing and Extending Piaget's and Vygotsky's Understandings of Play: ; Symbolic play as Individual, Sociocultural, and Educational Interpretation ; Artin Goncu and Suzanne Gaskins ; 6. Gene X Environment Interactions and Social Play: Contributions from Rhesus Macaques ; Khalisa N. Herman, Annika Paukner, and Stephen J. Suomi ; 7. Playing at Every Age: Modalities and Potential Functions in Non-Human Primates ; Elisabetta Palagi ; 8. Play and Development ; Robert M. Fagen ; 9. The History of Children's Play in the United States ; Howard P. Chudacoff ; 10. The Antipathies of Play ; Brian Sutton-Smith ; Part Four: Methods ; 11. The Cultural Ecology of Play: Methodological Considerations for Studying Play in Its Everyday Contexts ; Jonathan R. H. Tudge, Jill R. Brown, and Lia B. L. Freitas ; 12. Observational Methods in Studying Play ; Peter K. Smith ; Part Five: Dimensions of Play ; 13. Object Play and Tool Use: Developmental and Evolutionary Perspectives ; David F. Bjorklund and Amy K. Gardiner ; 14. The Development and Function of Locomotor Play ; Anthony D. Pellegrini ; 15. Not Just "Playing Alone": Exploring Multiple Forms of Nonsocial Play in Childhood ; Robert J. Coplan ; 16. Internalizing and Externalizing Disorders during Childhood: Implications for Social Play ; David Schwartz and Daryaneh Badaly ; 17. Gender and Temperament in Young Children's Social Interactions ; Carol Lynn Martin, Richard A. Fabes, Laura D. Hanish ; 18. Social Play of Children with Adults and Peers ; Carollee Howes ; 19. Rough-and-Tumble play: Training and Using the Social Brain ; Sergio M. Pellis and Vivien C. Pellis ; 20. Children's Games and Playground Activities in School and Their Role in Development ; Ed Baines and Peter Blatchford ; 21. Mother-Child Fantasy Play ; Angeline S. Lillard ; 22. Origins and Consequences of Social Pretend Play ; Robert D. Kavanaugh ; 23. The Development of Pretend Play in Autism ; Christopher Jarrold and Carmel Conn ; 24. Technology and Play ; Jeffrey Goldstein ; Part Six: Education ; 25. Playing around in School: Implications for Learning and Educational Policy ; Kelly Fisher, Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Roberta M. Golinkoff, Dorothy G. Singer, and Laura Berk ; Part Seven: Conclusion ; 26. Conclusion ; Anthony D. Pellegrini ; Index

Selling point: Part of the OXFORD LIBRARY OF PSYCHOLOGY. Selling point: Comprises 24 specially-commissioned chapters by the leading psychologists, anthropologists, and evolutionary biologists in the field of play. Selling point: Discusses human play from an ethological perspective, examining its ontogeny, phylogeny (especially across primate species), proximal factors and functions. Selling point: Emphasizes the importance of play in the debate over the role of recess in the school curriculum.

Selling point: Part of the OXFORD LIBRARY OF PSYCHOLOGY. Selling point: Comprises 24 specially-commissioned chapters by the leading psychologists, anthropologists, and evolutionary biologists in the field of play. Selling point: Discusses human play from an ethological perspective, examining its ontogeny, phylogeny (especially across primate species), proximal factors and functions. Selling point: Emphasizes the importance of play in the debate over the role of recess in the school curriculum.