People need to play

Professor Mark Solms of the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Neuroscience Institute delivered a lecture about the importance of play to an auditorium of UCT alumni on 31 October. The session was convened by the Legacy Society, which encourages people to give back to and think about providing for UCT in their wills.

In a world where our lives are defined by the digital and pushed forward by productivity, the idea of playing might sound silly. Or even preposterous. That is, of course, unless you’ve heard Professor Mark Solms speak on the topic.

Professor Solms is a trailblazer in neuropsychology and has been internationally recognised for his groundbreaking discoveries about the brain. His work has bridged a gap between neuroscience and psychoanalysis, making a remarkable impact on our understanding of how our minds work on both a biological and emotional level.

A group of UCT alumni had the great privilege of listening to Solms share the value of having fun during his lecture, titled “Why mammals (like us) need to PLAY”.

 Play may seem an odd topic for an organisation with a goal to raise much-needed funding. However, Registrar Emeritus Hugh Amoore, who is currently the president of the Legacy Society, noted that tertiary education and research are inextricably linked to play.

“Universities exist so that people can play. They are places for investigating, thinking and breaking boundaries. The Legacy Society is determined to ensure that the university remains a place in which people, students and staff can reach their full potential, can play and can explore for generations to come,” he said.

Why do we need to play?

Solms kicked off by highlighting the differences – and similarities – between emotional and physical needs. In both cases, he said, there’s a preferred state that we need to be in. When we move out of that state, it feels bad and if we move back towards that state, it feels good.

“There’s no clear dividing line between emotional needs and bodily needs. They work in exactly the same way. We have reflexes and instincts as to how we satisfy these emotional needs. The major difference is that we have greater difficulty telling whether we are succeeding or not with satisfying these needs,” he explained.

“The main task of mental development is learning from experience; in other words, feeling your way through life’s problems and then learning what succeeds and what doesn’t succeed; and, ultimately, learning how to meet your emotional needs.”

Unfortunately, there’s a bigger challenge involved in meeting emotional needs as opposed to physical ones: other people. That’s because our and others’ emotional needs don’t arise in a vacuum.

“It’s much harder to learn how to meet emotional needs than bodily needs, because emotional needs, for the most part, are needs in relation to other minds. And minds are far less predictable than things like apples and oxygen, which we can simply take in and use to meet our bodily needs,” said Solms.

“When you have needs in relation to other minds that have needs of their own, they can act voluntarily; in other words, they can come up with their own way of doing things. It’s therefore a lot harder to learn how to satisfy your needs in relation to other lines.”

How to incorporate play into your day

The solution to satisfying your emotional needs, Solms noted, is simple: Play! According to the neuroscientist, playing is essential for helping us to develop and hone empathy. Plus, it provides a safe space in which we can learn how to regulate our emotional needs – all of which can help us avoid wholly unpleasant neurological consequences.

“What play does, biologically is it enables us to learn in the safety of play, how to regulate our emotional needs [and] how to meet them in relation to the emotional needs of others. Failing to learn to meet these emotional needs leads to emotional distress and emotional disorders,” explained Solms.

“So panic disorders, major depression, phobias, anger management issues, sexual disorders and a range of other disorders are as a result of these emotional needs not being met.”

A classic game like cops and robbers is a great option for children, but the thought of chasing your adult companions around a park while pulling finger guns might make you cringe. Fortunately, adult play doesn’t have to look anything like what it did when you were in primary school.

Taking part in an organised sport, playing card games, taking a dance class and even going out for dinner with friends are all excellent options for playing as an adult as they give you an opportunity to interact with and get feedback from others.

“The focus should be on things that require cooperation, collaboration, reciprocity, neutrality and taking account of what others are experiencing. Doing activities that require all of these things and teach us to recognise others’ needs make for a happier life,” added Solms.

Make a bequest

With an understanding of why play matters in childhood and adulthood, it’s clearly important to preserve the spaces in which play takes place – and is researched – if we want to satisfy our emotional needs.

One way in which you can do this is by making a bequest to UCT that can help the institution satisfy immediate needs or donate with a specific purpose or designation in mind. In either case, you can contact the Legacy Society to find out more or get help with making testamentary arrangements.