What Kind of Playful Are You?
Four ways adults play, and the one you reach for first
Playfulness in adults is not one trait. Research from the last decade splits it into four: the play you share with other people, a light way of taking life, playing with ideas, and a taste for the odd and unusual. Most people are strong in one or two and quiet in the rest, and the mix shapes how you work, flirt and get through a boring afternoon.
Before you start There are no right answers. Pick what is usually true for you, not what sounds best.
Answer about how you are in ordinary weeks with people you know, not on holiday or after a glass of wine.
What it measures
The four facets of the OLIW model: other-directed, lighthearted, intellectual and whimsical playfulness. It is not a humour test - humour styles describe how you use jokes, while playfulness is the broader habit of reframing everyday situations so they become entertaining or interesting, with or without anyone laughing. It is also not creativity, although the intellectual facet overlaps with it.
Based on: OLIW model of adult playfulness (Proyer, 2017)
Possible results
Other-directed
Using play to lighten the time you spend with people.
Lighthearted
Treating everyday life as something to improvise with, not just a list of consequences.
Intellectual
Playing with thoughts, problems and ideas for the pleasure of it.
Whimsical
A taste for the odd, the unusual and the small absurdities of daily life.
Common questions
Is playfulness the same as having a sense of humour?
No, although they overlap. Humour is about finding things funny and making people laugh; playfulness is the wider habit of reframing situations so they become entertaining or interesting, which may involve no jokes at all. Someone can play with ideas all day without being the funny one in the group. Quinthea's humour styles test covers the other side.
Does playfulness matter in a relationship?
It seems to, for some facets more than others. A study of 211 romantic couples found that the other-directed and intellectual facets in particular were linked to higher relationship satisfaction, using a model that captures effects from both partners. Playfulness also comes up often when people describe what they want in a partner. It is one of the cheaper ways a couple has of keeping routine from turning into distance.
Can an adult become more playful?
Probably a little. Playfulness behaves like a stable trait, but it is also a habit of attention. A randomised online study tested simple exercises, such as writing down playful moments at the end of each day, and found modest short-term gains. The evidence is still young, so treat it as a promising experiment rather than a guarantee.
Sources
- Proyer, R. T. (2017). A new structural model for the study of adult playfulness: Assessment and exploration of an understudied individual differences variable. Personality and Individual Differences. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2016.12.011
- Proyer, R. T., Brauer, K., Wolf, A., & Chick, G. (2019). Adult playfulness and relationship satisfaction: An APIM analysis of romantic couples. Journal of Research in Personality. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2019.02.001
- Brauer, K., Proyer, R. T., & Chick, G. (2021). Adult playfulness: An update on an understudied individual differences variable and its role in romantic life. Social and Personality Psychology Compass. doi:10.1111/spc3.12589
- Proyer, R. T., Gander, F., Brauer, K., & Chick, G. (2021). Can playfulness be stimulated? A randomised placebo-controlled online playfulness intervention study on effects on trait playfulness, well-being, and depression. Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being. doi:10.1111/aphw.12220
An honest note The items here are Quinthea's own wording, adapted from the published OLIW questionnaire, so your scores cannot be compared with its norms. The four-facet model is recent, dates from 2017, and most of the evidence comes from one research group working with German-speaking and English-speaking samples. Playfulness is also partly a matter of context: someone going through a hard stretch will score lower for reasons that have nothing to do with character.
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