Make-Believe: A Mediator of the Relationship between Play and Associative Fluency

Naturalistic observation of 96 preschoolers permitted categorizing them as either players (displayed make-believe) or nonplayers. All subjects were then exposed to 1 of 3 treatment conditions (free play, imitation, problem solving) and subsequently given an alternate-uses test. Free play enhanced associative fluency, but only for players who actually engaged in make-believe. These findings were interpreted as consistent with the hypothesis that associative fluency is not automatically enhanced by the lack of structure in free-play situations, but that it can be enhanced by the freely assimilative character of make-believe.