Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 8, 2026

Experimental Paradigm for Measuring the Effects of Self-distancing in Young Children
Published on: March 1, 2019
Fun isn't easy: Children selectively manipulate task difficulty when "playing for fun" versus "playing to win"
Junyi Chu1, Joshua S Rule2, Mariel K Goddu1
1Department of Psychology, Harvard University.
Abstract:
Play is important in many cultures and species, but the basic motivations behind play remain unclear. In two preregistered experiments, we examined what 5- to 10-year-old children (n = 124) think makes play rewarding under internally and externally motivated contexts using a novel game design task. We specifically compared children's choices about how to best configure a novel tossing game when either playing for fun or playing to win. We found that for "win-relevant" variables, children chose easier settings when playing to win than when playing for fun. By contrast, for "win-irrelevant" variables, children generally preferred similar settings across conditions. Children also judged "win-relevant" variables as more important to winning than "win-irrelevant" variables and judged both as irrelevant to having fun. These results suggest that playing to win and playing for fun are distinct motivational contexts to which children can appropriately adapt their decisions during play. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).
Related Concept Videos
Social Facilitation
Self-Regulation
Social Foundations of Self I: Play and Game
Self-Discrepancy Theory
Avoidance Learning and Learned Helplessness
Avoidance learning occurs when an organism learns that a specific behavior can prevent an unpleasant outcome. For example, a student who receives a bad grade may start studying harder to avoid future poor grades. This behavior persists even when the negative outcome is no longer present. Avoidance learning is powerful because it maintains behavior in the absence of the...

