WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Can Playing Pretend Help Kids Focus?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff. Lauren Volke bam here with a classic episode

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<v Speaker 1>from our previous host, Christian Sager. To be honest, I

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<v Speaker 1>can find it hard to focus even on the best

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<v Speaker 1>of days, and it's certainly a struggle with everything going

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<v Speaker 1>on right now. But some psychological research from a few

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<v Speaker 1>years back found a mental exercise that might help. Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff is Christian Sager here. Pretending is fun. Take

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<v Speaker 1>the simple task of making breakfast. Would you rather make

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<v Speaker 1>scrambled eggs while pondering your utility payments? Or say, pretend

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<v Speaker 1>you're a short order cook tasked with making the world's

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<v Speaker 1>best scrambled eggs for a celebrity Breakfast is a lot

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<v Speaker 1>more interesting when there's something at steak. According to a

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<v Speaker 1>recent study in the journal Child Development, kids are savvy

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<v Speaker 1>to this trick. Self distancing is when we view personal

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<v Speaker 1>experiences from an outsider's perspective. Aiming to test the benefits

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<v Speaker 1>of this on children's perseverance, the researchers asked one hundred

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<v Speaker 1>and eighty kids ages four or six to do a

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<v Speaker 1>pretty boring computer task for ten minutes. Although all the

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<v Speaker 1>kids had to do was press a key when they

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<v Speaker 1>saw a certain image. They were told the task was

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<v Speaker 1>important and that they had to be good helpers. They

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<v Speaker 1>could take breaks to play a game on an iPad

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<v Speaker 1>if they wanted. The researchers split the kids into three

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<v Speaker 1>groups and asked each to think about its performance on

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<v Speaker 1>the given task from a certain perspective, self immersed, third

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<v Speaker 1>person or exemplar. Kids in the self immersed group asked themselves,

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<v Speaker 1>am I working hard? The third person group reflected on

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<v Speaker 1>the task by asking, is Christian Sager working hard? Now?

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<v Speaker 1>That's just me doing the third person there and the

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<v Speaker 1>exemplar group, those children imagined they were either Batman, Bob

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<v Speaker 1>the Builder, Rapuns or Dora the Explorer, well known characters

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<v Speaker 1>who are model hard workers, and were given props to

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<v Speaker 1>help them get in character. They were told to ask themselves,

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<v Speaker 1>for example, is Batman working hard? Every minute of the task.

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<v Speaker 1>A recorded voice prompted the children with their allotted question.

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<v Speaker 1>The researchers found that the kids in both age groups

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<v Speaker 1>who imagined themselves as a character spent a longer time

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<v Speaker 1>on the task, although predictably, the younger kids spent less

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<v Speaker 1>time on the task than the older kids Across the board.

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<v Speaker 1>The six year olds who were asked to reflect in

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<v Speaker 1>person spent about thirty five percent of the time on

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<v Speaker 1>the task rather than on break, and the four year

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<v Speaker 1>olds just over twenty. But the children pretending to be

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<v Speaker 1>fictional heroes spent fifty five percent of their time working,

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<v Speaker 1>while the four year olds in this group spent thirty

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<v Speaker 1>two percent of their time on task. The researchers posit

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<v Speaker 1>that when the children used third person or impersonated characters,

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<v Speaker 1>the kids distance themselves from the boring task and tempting game,

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<v Speaker 1>allowing them to gain more focus and self control. Taking

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<v Speaker 1>an outsider's perspective on one's own behavior can improve perseverance

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<v Speaker 1>in the face of entertaining distractions. This is what the

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<v Speaker 1>researchers say in their study, but interpreting these results is

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<v Speaker 1>not so simple. Is pretending to be a character just fun?

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<v Speaker 1>Does it make kids think like they're powerful alter egos?

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<v Speaker 1>The study authors say Answering these questions will require more research. Regardless,

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<v Speaker 1>the current study suggests that for kids, sticking to a

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<v Speaker 1>task might be easier with role play. Now, if you'll

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<v Speaker 1>excuse me, I've got to go change outfits because I

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<v Speaker 1>am Vengeance, I am the Knight Today's episode was written

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<v Speaker 1>by Kate Kirshner and produced by Tristan McNeil and Tyler Clay.

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<v Speaker 1>For more on listen lots of other topics, visit how

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<v Speaker 1>suffworks dot com. Brain Stuff is production of I heart Radio.

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