TR 1070: Leisure, Play, and the Human Experience - Midterm Study Guide

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering the core concepts, theories, historical eras, social psychology models, and environmental principles from TR 1070.

Leisure

Free, unobligated time and a state of being that represents the opposite of work and encompasses many ways to use time.

Play

A spontaneous, voluntary behavior that is intrinsically rewarding, consumed for its own sake, and often involves creativity or imagination.

Recreation

A play-like activity that may have more structure, rules, or objectives, can be motivated intrinsically or extrinsically, and is focused on an outcome.

Intrinsic Motivation

Engaging in an activity for the sake of the activity itself, driven by internal rewards such as enjoyment, satisfaction, mastery, or personal fulfillment.

Extrinsic Motivation

Engaging in an activity to obtain external rewards or observable validation, such as money, prizes, grades, or trophies.

Surplus Energy Theory

A play theory formulated by H. Spencer stating that play serves the primary physical benefit of burning off extra energy.

Instinct-Practice Theory

A play theory by K. Groos, based on Darwin, stating that play allows individuals to practice survival and adult skills such as fighting, love, imitative, and social play.

Catharsis Theory (Psychoanalytic)

A play theory proposed by S. Freud, A. Freud, and Erikson stating that play provides an emotional and social benefit as a safe way to release strong emotions.

Re-creation / Relaxation Theory

A play theory proposed by G.T.W. Patrick stating that play provides a physical benefit by recharging an individual for work because a change of activity restores energy.

Recapitulation Theory

A play theory proposed by G.S. Hall asserting that children physically replay human evolutionary stages, including animal, savage, nomad, and tribal stages.

Cognitive-Developmental Theory

A play theory associated with Bruner, Piaget, and Sutton-Smith stating that play is a relaxed way to learn problem-solving across sensorimotor, symbolic, construction, and rule-based stages.

Task Generalization (Spillover)

The tendency for individuals to enjoy and engage in leisure activities that are similar to the nature of their work.

Task Compensation

The tendency to engage in play and leisure activities to fulfill psychological or physical needs that work does not satisfy.

Stimulus-Arousal Theory

A play theory associated with Berlyne, Fein, and Ellis stating that individuals seek thrills and stimulation because fun has arousal potential.

Competence-Effectance Theory

A theory proposing that individuals play to test their environment, gain mastery, and experience intellectual and emotional benefits.

Purple (Taboo) Leisure

Activities evaluated by assessing three harm criteria: whether the activity harms the person, harms others (including animals), or hurts society.

Hedonism

The behavioral pursuit of pleasure.

Huizinga's Definition of Play

A voluntary activity occurring within fixed limits of time and place, governed by freely accepted yet binding rules, having an intrinsic aim, and accompanied by feelings of tension and joy.

Iso-Ahola's Pyramid

A hierarchical model of leisure causality comprising biological dispositions and early socialization at the base, optimal arousal/incongruity, perceived freedom and competence, and stated leisure needs at the top.

Neophilia

The psychological tendency to love, seek, and be attracted to new stimuli.

Neophobia

The psychological tendency to avoid or fear new stimuli.

Reticular Activating System (RAS)

The part of the brainstem that regulates and controls arousal levels.

Inverted U Theory

A psychological model positing that performance and enjoyment peak at a moderate level of arousal, whereas too little arousal causes boredom and too much causes anxiety.

Theory of Loose Parts

Simon Nicholson's $1971$ theory positing that items that can be moved, redesigned, and manipulated encourage greater imagination and optimal arousal.

Effectance Motivation

Robert White's ($1959$) concept that humans have an innate need to feel effective, where the sense of competence acts as a master reinforcer.

Flow

Csikszentmihalyi's state of complete immersion and peak experience that occurs when personal skill is perfectly matched to the situational challenge.

Leisure Socialization

The lifelong process by which leisure knowledge, attitudes, values, skills, and motives are learned and internalized, producing socially relevant and rewarding leisure behavior.

Dialectical View of Leisure

The perspective that humans simultaneously require both stability (security) and change (variety) in their leisure repertoires.

Between-Change

A form of leisure change in which a person switches completely to a different activity.

Within-Change

A form of leisure change in which an individual alters partners, courts, or environments while remaining engaged in the same overall activity.

Substitutability

The concept that activities within a similar behavioral cluster (such as bicycling, basketball, and swimming) can replace one another.

Normative Need

Mercer's classification for leisure needs derived from external standards or rules established by outside authorities, such as a doctor prescribing exercise.

Comparative Need

Mercer's classification for leisure needs that arise when individuals evaluate and compare their own abilities, status, or activities against similar peers.

Learned Helplessness

A psychological state of feeling powerless after experiencing trauma or repeated failure, which Iso-Ahola links to antisocial outcomes like vandalism and drug abuse.

Biophilia

The evolutionary hypothesis stating that humans possess an innate biological tendency to seek connections with nature and other living systems.

Attention Restoration Theory

A theory positing that exposure to natural environments restores voluntary cognitive focus and mental resources by engaging involuntary attention.

National Preserve

A National Park System designation that possesses characteristics similar to a national park but permits consumptive activities such as hunting.

Sustainability

Meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own, balancing socio-cultural, economic, and environmental systems.