Proyer’s Play Forms

Playfulness: Proyer’s (2015) OLIW: other-directed, lighthearted, intellectual, whimsical

Proyer’s new structural model of playfulness consists of four facets:

1. Other-directed (O)
   • enjoying to play with others;
   • using ones playfulness to make social relations more interesting or to loosen up tense situations with others;
   • enjoying good-heartedly teasing;
2. Lighthearted (L)
   • Seeing life as a game and not worrying too much about the future consequences of one’s own behavior;
   • liking to improvise;
   • reserving time in the daily routine for play);
3. Intellectual (I)
   • liking to play with ideas and thoughts;
   • liking to think about and solving problems;
   • thinking about and trying different solutions for a problem; preferring complexity over simplicity; and
4. Whimsical (W)
   • finding amusement in grotesque and strange situations;
   • having the reputation of liking odd things or activities;
   • finding it easy to find something amusing for oneself and/or others in everyday life situations and interactions.