The basis of human trust is established through play signals.
Dr. Stuart Brown
As I mentioned earlier, I’m hooked on TED.com. Since I don’t really have time to just sit down and watch the lectures all day, I multi-task. While doing the dishes last week, I listened to Dr. Stuart Brown’s lecture on the importance of play throughout our lives. Something clicked.
Doubt
Since I’m approaching the final stages of my studies and the dreaded G word (graduation), I’m inevitably thinking about what I’ll do when I no longer have the security of school and student status. Sure, I’ll be a teacher, and teachers are always needed. How long will it take, though, for me to be old, wise and experienced enough for someone to employ me full-time?
Since jobseeking is a relevant topic for others I know as well, I’ve been keeping an eye on the job market for Arts majors without significant financial or technological expertise. You know what? It’s not hot. Every now and then, I find myself thinking I maybe should have done a more marketable degree, read more relevant minors, acquired more financial expertise and so on.
During one of these soul-searches, I happened to listen to Dr. Stuart Brown’s lecture. Much of it I already knew, having studied drama education for a year and a half now. Still, there were a few points that really resonated. One was the notion quoted above that trust is established through play signals.
Another was the story about play-deprived rats and regular rats. When presented with a cat-smelling object, the rats all ran and hid, regardless of their play history. The play-deprived ones, however, never came out. They didn’t have whatever it takes to start exploring the surroundings to find out if the danger is still imminent or already gone.
Drama as play
Essentially, drama is about play and make-believe. In English, the word play encompasses both the fun, frivolous, unorganized activity and the theatrical presentation of a drama text. All in all, one of the central concepts in drama and drama education is that of play, playfulness and a shared understanding of “creating an elsewhere”.
That shared understanding, I’d imagine, is the very thing that builds trust.
Jokes, flirtation, throwing someone a baseball or watching a soap opera all require a certain mindset both from the initiator and from the respondent. If the initiator wants to play catch as she throws the ball, and the respondent thinks they’re being attacked, there’s a huge miscommunication that might well result in bruising and bitter words. Jokes work in much the same way, only verbally. There, too, the danger of bitter words and emotional bruising is obvious.
That same trust – in oneself and in others – could again be the reason why the undeprived rats started to explore their surroundings and why the play-deprived ones didn’t.
Play is that significant.
*ding*
I’m training to be a drama teacher. That means I’ll be teaching, instructing and guiding kids, teenagers and adults how to play without feeling stupid about it. Or, better yet, how to play and feel stupid and not care.
Which will improve their communication skills, their risk-taking skills, their trusting skills, and more.
How is that not the single most awesome thing in the world?
How could that not be something people want to learn?
My goal for the rest of my studies will be to figure out and build myself a way to bring that to the people who need it most. A school is a good context for that, but it’s definitely not the only one. By focusing on my future title – teacher – I’m probably limiting my career possibilities.
I feel my dream job is getting closer and closer. 🙂
Thank you for popping by and taking the time to read this – I hope you enjoy(ed) the Stuart Brown lecture! Until next time, keep catching your own insightings!
Love,
Sari
One of the things I notice about people when they’re looking for work is they tend to look at the subject of their degree and find no matches for jobs.
It’s not so much about what you studied, it’s about how you went about it that mattered. It’s the presentations, the communications, the way you mastered organising your time.
I spent three years running my own business in financial analytics. I don’t have a degree in anything remotely like that, but I know how to apply learning to any new situation I walk into.
So don’t think that just because you’re an “arts major” you can’t find work. It’s out there, you just have to know how to apply your real skills to what the job requires. No employer really cares whether or not you know Shakespeare inside out or really *get* E M Forster. They want to know that being able to organise a play means you’re able to manage a project, and that being able to direct effectively means you’re going to be really great managing their team. Expand your idea of what your abilities and studies mean, and you’ll find life out there in the real world much, much easier.
And now I’ll get off my soap box!
I’ll put the soap box right here, so you know where it is when you need it again. 🙂
That’s something I really need to keep in mind. On a related note – a friend of mine is a young mother of several children. When we talked about careers one day, she said something really important. “I have three young kids and I run a household. There is no organisatory task that is out of my league.” I really admire her for recognizing her strengths and being willing to apply them in a new context.
[…] the other hand, I do understand the emotion behind the joke. It links back to the play signals and trust aspect, at least in my mind. Depending on who you’re joking around with, the boundaries of […]