Playing with dolls helps in the development of social skills and the understanding of others in children, according to new research.
Research by Cardiff University has found that playing with Barbie dolls can help reach key milestones in developing empathy and social understanding during childhood. Doll play was found to be beneficial for both boys and girls, and is particularly valuable for those experiencing problems with their peers.
Dr Sarah Gerson, Cardiff University School of Psychology, said: "Play is often described as a child's occupation, both because young children spend the majority of their time playing and because it's a critical mechanism through which children learn.
"Theory of mind - the ability to understand and differentiate the thoughts, beliefs, and desires of others - is a foundational skill for developing relationships with peers, teachers, and parents, and a skill that people take through their lives to develop relationships as adults.
"Most research examining the development of the theory of mind has focused on interactions with caregivers, siblings, or peers. We wanted to understand more about how play can be a critical mechanism for children to learn cognitive and socio-emotional skills."
In a six-week-long study, the researchers asked parents of children between 4 to 8 years old to keep play diaries, after being assigned either a doll or a tablet (with pre-loaded games) to play with. The parents recorded how often and how long their child played with dolls and tablets, as well as reporting whether their child played with anyone.
Dr Gerson said: "The children were then tested on their understanding of others' mental states through laboratory play sessions and a standardised test for measuring false belief called a Sandbox Task."
We found the first evidence that doll play is linked to improvements in false belief understanding in children aged 4 to 8 years old. False belief is the cognitive ability to understand the beliefs of others, a vital cornerstone in theory of mind and childhood social development.
"We saw that improvements in false belief understanding were particularly great for children who had more parent-reported peer problems," added Dr Gerson.
The researchers found that children were more likely to play socially and use language expressing emotions when playing with dolls compared with tablets. Parents also reported that children were more likely to play with their siblings, parents or friends with dolls. This indicates that doll play can be influential in practising and improving social processing skills.
The Sandbox Task revealed that playing with dolls improved theory of mind, with both boys and girls displaying improvement in the task, and greater improvements were found in children whose parents had reported peer problems.
Dr Gerson added: "We believe that doll play may encourage children to engage in social interactions more and give children more opportunities to rehearse or reflect on others' beliefs, emotions, or intentions, compared to other types of play.
"When playing with dolls, children have the opportunity to role-play characters, create narratives, and act out scenarios – doing so relies on and fosters the ability to imagine others' thoughts, feelings, and intentions. These pretend play scenarios, allow children to practice social skills, emotion processing, and emotion regulation within a safe environment."
Identifying new and innovative ways to improve social skills could have important consequences, as these social skills in childhood provide the foundations for developing relationships throughout someone's lifespan.
Future research is needed to fully understand the specific mechanisms underlying the social and cognitive benefits of doll play and to understand whether these impacts extend to other toys.
The research, Doll play improves false belief reasoning: Evidence from a randomized-control trial, was published in PLOS One.
