Date: Tuesday Sept 30, 2025 at 9am Pacific Daylight Time (PDT)
Guest Speaker: Sandra Russ Distinguished University Professor, Case Western Reserve University
Summary: Pretend play involves accessing and processing emotions, which helps development of creativity, emotion regulation, and well-being. Sandra Russ’ Affect In Play Scale isameans of assessing emotions and imagination in pretend play. Expression of emotions and regulating emotions during pretend play is important for all children, put particularly so in play therapy. Vygotsky had recognized this in his 1932 lecture on the development of “Emotions” as a higher psychological function. This session with Sandra Russ is an opportunity to consider how her contemporary research on affect in children’s play relates to Vygotskian and clinical psychology.
Zoom Link: https://zoom.us/j/98564124237
Meeting ID: 985 6412 4237
Passcode: Vygotsky
Readings:
Russ, S. and Wallace, C. “Pretend Play and Creative Processes” https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1016123.pdf
Fiorelli, J. and Russ, S. ”Pretend Play, Coping, and Subjective Well-Being in Children” https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ985605.pdf
Hoffman, J. and Russ, S. “Pretend Play, Creativity, and Emotion Regulation in Children” https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232559599_Pretend_Play_Creativity_and_Emotion_Regulation_in_Children
Russ, S. (2023). Affect in Pretend Play and Creativity. In Z. Ivcevic, J. Hoffmann, & J. Kaufman (Eds.) The Cambridge Handbook of Creativity and Emotions. (pp. 262-279). Cambridge University Press.