Play and the Search for Identity in the Cyberspace Community

Table of ContentsI. Introduction: Becoming a Person 1003II. Babies, Toddlers, and Early Childhood 1004III. The School-Aged Child 1009IV. The Adolescent 1010V. Play, Identity, and Electronic Games 1011A. Preschoolers and Children, Ages 5-7 1011B. School-Aged Children and Beyond 1014VI. Areas for Further Research Concerning Computers 1 020A. Fantasy/Realty and Imagination 1020B. Identification and Stereotypes 1020C. Values and Morality 1021D. Cognition 1021E. Abstract Thinking and Reflective Thought 1022F. Social and Emotional 1022VII. Identity and Video Games 10221. Introduction: Becoming a PersonJust as the toddler in Picasso's painting is attempting to take its first steps and separate itself from mother, the child, and later the adolescent, is attempting to find a place in society and is searching for ideas and for role models in which to have faith. Erik Erikson, a pioneer in lifespan psychology, asked what we would consider to be the earliest and most undifferentiated "sense of identity." He suggests that it arises out of the encounter between mother and infant through mutual trustworthiness and mutual recognition.1 According to Erikson, this mutuality is the "first experience of what in later reoccurrences in love and admiration can only be called a sense of 'hallowed presence,' the need for which remains basic in man."2 One way that the baby differentiates itself from others takes place through play. The play between mother and child reinforces a feeling of trust and leads to a sense of selfautonomy and independence that changes and broadens throughout childhood and adolescence. This is highlighted in Erikson' s fifth stage, identity versus role confusion.3II. Babies, Toddlers, and Early ChildhoodA sense of self is at first manifested by infants through sensory-motor play, the pleasure of using their senses, sucking, gazing at objects, smelling, touching, and moving toes, fingers, arms and legs.4 The mother-child bond begins with mother holding the baby during feeding, rocking, bathing, and diaper changing.5 This is the time for baby to begin to recognize mother or any other prime caretaker. Infants can smile a neo-natal smile from birth on, but a true smile begins at about six weeks and leads to the mother-child interaction, the "love dance" that is so important in developing trust.6Babies repeat acts for pleasure and seem to be practicing their skills, such as swatting at the mobile over the crib or dropping items into a basket.7 Infants babble and enjoy listening to sounds of others' voices.8 They imitate expressions of others, such as opening their mouths, and copying hand gestures and body movements.9 Very early on, children need to learn to become aware of and to recognize emotions, and, soon, intentions in themselves and others. Understanding how to express emotions appropriately is crucial to their social development. Children have a strong desire to learn what others think of them and to gain their approval.10 Identity formation involves self-awareness, understanding, and recognizing one's own and another's emotions.11Andrew Meltzoff and M. Keith Moore propose that babies are social at birth and can imitate the facial expressions of others as early as two or three weeks. …