Freedom to Learn

The roles of play and curiosity as foundations for learning

Peter Gray, a research professor of psychology at Boston College, is a specialist in developmental and evolutionary psychology and author of an introductory textbook, Psychology. See full bio

November 5, 2008, Child Development

Comments on "Chasing Games and Sports: Why Do We Like to Be Chased?"

Chasing Games and Sports: Why Do We Like to Be Chased?

By Peter Gray on November 5, 2008 in Freedom to Learn

The three-year-old squeals with almost unbearable joy as she flees from the terrible monster, in the form of her father or big brother, who threatens to catch her and eat her for breakfast. The 22-year-old quarterback experiences a similar thrill as he twists, turns, and dashes around one monstrous defender after another on his way to the goal line. . .. In nightmares and in real life, nothing is more terrifying than being chased by a predator or monster. But in play, nothing is more delightful. Why is that? Read More

How do you account for the

Submitted by SB on November 6, 2008 - 6:11am.

How do you account for the popularity of hunting as a sport?

Thanks.

Pfft - hunting is not a

Submitted by AS on November 6, 2008 - 3:26pm.

Pfft - hunting is not a sport. Aiming at a deer through the telescopic sight of a high-powered rifle while wearing camoflage gear, only so you can stick its head to your wall, is hardly sporting.
Although, I would say the joy that people get from hunting with rifles now would be the same joy people got from bringing down a mammoth 10,000 years ago; taking pride from the fact you have provided for your family and that they wont go hungry.
How many fat middle-aged blokes would hunt these days though if it meant chasing after deer with a machete and a wooden spear?

Hunting is sport, regardless of the weapon chosen.

Submitted by Anonymous on July 6, 2009 - 5:07am.

It is a shame that I didn't come across this when it was first posted. Hunting is sport regardless of the weapon chosen. The use of firearms for hunting is just a natural progression of the sport and increases your odds of obtaining prey. Primitive humans could hunt all year, modern humans are subject to hunting seasons and have a brief window to hunt. The firearm is the most efficient means to harvest game. Does it really matter what type of weapon is used or wether one wears camol? Not hardly. Hunting is literally a part of our past and I believe it is genetically predisposed stronger in some people than others. This comment is a typical political correct response to hunting. The person who posted this comment has to admit that hunting is a part of human existence, but critcises modern hunters for the use of rifle with a scope, wearing camolflage, and then mounting the head on the wall. The vast majority of hunters do not hunt with the intention of sticking the head on the wall, this is a secondary outcome of the sport. Once the meat is utilized, the head/antlers are mounted to remind you of an enjoyable hunt you had. I will also make this bold comment, hunting is more sporting than athletics. Do you really benefit society by your abillity to throw a ball or how fast you can run? Is their a down side to societie's obsession with sports and jock culture? Yes their is. Humanity would not be what is today if are ancestors didn't hunt, our engagment in hunting is just a continuation of our past.

Hunting

Submitted by Peter Gray on November 8, 2008 - 7:15am.

SB,I don't have a theory to account for the popularity of hunting, but concerning your question let me make several comments: 1. Certainly human beings hunted (as well as gathered) throughout our ancestral period. However, the available evidence suggests that they did not hunt in the manner of other predators--by chasing down the prey. They hunted by wit and craft, using such tools as bows and arrows, blowpipes and darts, snares, and the like. The means of hunting probably varied from place to place. The evidence that we did not hunt by chasing fits with the evidence that in chase games we prefer to take the part of prey rather than predator. 2. It is very possible that our evolutionary experience as hunters does contribute to certain other aspects of play that we enjoy--such as the enjoyment of aimed throwing, as in pitching in baseball or shooting baskets in basketball, or passing in football. Throwing comes closer to our ancestral predatory behavior than does chasing. It is also interesting, in this regard, that in most cultures chase games are equally popular among girls and boys, while throwing games are usually more popular among boys. This may relate to the fact that in ancestral times both sexes needed to escape from predators, but men did most of the hunting. 3. Hunting may be popular, but it is not as universally popular as chasing games. Children everywhere engage in chasing games. That is not true of hunting nor of hunting games. In general, children (and adults) hunt, or engage in pretend hunting, only in certain settings, where hunting is part of the culture. -Peter

Not everyone prefers fleeing

Submitted by Don't chase me on November 6, 2008 - 3:16pm.

Whether the chaser or chasee position is preferred is very much a subjective preference and not universal. I remember distinctly the overwhelming panic that would set in whenever a chase game started to go in my chaser's favor. I quickly learned to prefer not getting in that situation again.

My son, who is completely unaware of my past, also shows this same panic meltdown when he sees chase is not going his way, often turning around and crying or yelling if about to be caught, even at 6 years old. He would much prefer to chase than be chased and so be at a disadvantage. This preference to not be at a disadvantage shows up in other social situations too.

Maybe the "average" human prefers to be chased, but obviously some greatly prefer to be in power over others instead. Genetics has likely ensured it.

Exceptions

Submitted by Peter Gray on November 8, 2008 - 7:26am.

Dear "Don't Chase Me," Thank you for this fascinating observation. For almost every generalization regarding human nature, exceptions exist. I am intrigued by the possibility that this could be a straightforward genetic effect. Perhaps you could ask other relatives about their experience and see if you have a family tree of people who dislike (or disliked) being chased in play. If you ask them, don't tell them the hypothesis. Just ask: Did you play chase games as a child? In games like tag did you dislike being chased? Are there any other readers out there who also detested being chased in play such as tag? -Peter

Fear is Natural

Submitted by AR on December 5, 2008 - 11:46am.

Yes, I recall some panic, but the thrill preceded it. Being chased is fun especially when you are successfully outrunning your opponent. However, the panic, I believe that is felt when you're about to be caught isn't contrary to what Peter Gray has said; it supports it. We love to be chased therefore when we're about to be caught, we get anxious because it means we will be the next to have to chase. Also, it's evolutionary to not like being "caught" so when the pursuer is coming close, it's natural for a person to feel panic. I wonder if you and your son had not been close to being "tagged," if you would not have felt that panic, but would rather have felt the joy that Dr. Gray was talking about. The fear must come with the joy to encourage a person to become a better runner and flee-er. I think.

To chase or to be chased...

Submitted by Erik on November 7, 2008 - 9:28pm.

For what it's worth... being on offense in sports like baseball, and dodgeball don't feel (to me) like you are being chased. Offense in dodgeball if anything feels like you are the one doing the hunting/chasing.

Perhaps being "it" in tag is no fun primarily because of of being singled-out socially, not necessarily because you are chasing. Whereas chasing as part of a group (as in a group attack in enemy territory in capture the flag) feels great!

Empirical evidence needed I guess? Maybe humans have more in common with the large predators?

Erik

Clarification

Submitted by Peter Gray on November 8, 2008 - 6:54am.

Erik, I used the terms "offense" and "defense" only as they are typically used to describe team sports like football and baseball, and my point was that the terms in those sports, from my perspective, are used backwards. I did not use those terms for dodgeball. If "offense" refers to the throwers and defense to the dodger, then the terms are not used backwards for that game. What I said about dodgeball was that the position of being thrown at is the preferred position, and that is like being chased (prey rather than predator). Baseball is a kind of mixed situation. The joy of base running clearly fits my theory, but the joy of batting may not (unless, by a stretch, we think of batting as warding off a ball that is being thrown at us, in which case the batter can be thought of as in a position comparable to the person being thrown at in dodge ball). I don't mean to say that everything about these games can be explained in terms of my theory. For example, there is great joy in pitching, which, if anything,fits more with being predator than prey. Nor do I intend to deny that there is some joy also in chasing. However, the remarkable fact that I am pointing out is that in all games that I know of that involve chasing, the preferred position is to be the one being chased rather than the one doing the chasing. I have never seen any explanation of that fact; and I think my explanation works. You suggest empirical research. Any ideas for how to conduct such research? Concerning the question of our being like large predators, see my response to SB, above. Peter

What's "fun?"

Submitted by shuneet on December 4, 2008 - 8:41pm.

Just read your blog about love of chase games. Indeed, one sees the delight in little children running away in a fun chase. I must say that part of their delight is in the terror. Why is terror delightful is a whole other question...

I liked the reversal of perception of the football forward being actually on the defense as he runs with the ball.

You argue essentially that for species who are hunted, the play of escape is fun and for species who hunt, the play of pursuing is fun, for evolutionary
reasons. Question is how do you decide that one role is having more "fun" than the other for any species - seems a little subjective, no? I say it could be an idea for a research topic. Got any students looking for research ideas these days?...

How to tell which animal is having more fun

Submitted by Peter Gray on December 7, 2008 - 4:56am.

Peter Gray Dear Shuneet, Great question. The observations suggesting that most mammals prefer the position of being chased over that of chasing in chase cames seem to be largely if not entirely informal. Karl Groos, in his classic (1898) book, The Play of Animals, wrote. "Among beasts of prey the pursuer is far more active and interested in the game than the fleeing one, while with herbivorous animals the contrary is the case." He goes on to refer to someone named Seitz for the observation that "among herbivores the animal that flees plays the principal part, the other merely cooperating and doing its share in a perfunctory sort of way." More recently, Lynn Faribanks (2000) has commented that, based on her observations of vervet monkeys: "Chases in vervets are usually initiated by the individual being chased. The initiator makes a movement to run away, then looks back to see if he or she is being chased before launching into a full speed escape." In his book on play in animals and children, Powers (2000) writes: "In her description of play-chasing in Hamadryas baboons, Le Resche (1976) stated that 'The pursued animal may on occasion look back over his shoulder at the pursuer, displaying the play face. The pursuer less frequently shows this expression.'” He also refers to some other researchers as observing that chasing play is most often initiated by provoking and fleeing rather than by provoking and chasing. The animal starting the game apparently wants to be chased. But as far as I can tell, these are all rather informal observations. Following through on this with some sort of quantitative study would be a great doctoral dissertation for someone in the field of animal behavior. Also see my response to AR concerning house cats and why they seem to prefer being chased. -Peter

Cats and Chase

Submitted by AR on December 5, 2008 - 11:53am.

As I read this blog, I was in complete agreement even to the animal part. I play "sneak" with my cat where I will pretend to be a predator watching him, and he will slowly sneak up to me and then pounce, but he enjoys it best when I chase him after he pounces out from behind the wall. I see so much delight in his body language, but he always refuses to chase me, even if I run. So I agree, but then I was confused when you said that lions and tigers prefer to chase. Does this not apply to domestic cats since house cats have more predators than their larger brethren? I know that they have dogs and such to run from, like you mentioned, dogs like to chase. But I was just curious.
Thanks!

Why cats play at flleeing more than chasing

Submitted by Peter Gray on December 10, 2008 - 3:29am.

Peter Gray Dear AR, Great observation. Your comment that your cat likes to be chased in play led me to look up the evolutionary origin of house cats. They apparently derived, about 10,000 years ago in the fertile crescent, from wild cats that still exist today. These wild cats are small and hunt rodents by stealth and pouncing. This means that house cats do not have an evolutionary history of chasing down game. So, your observation fits with the theory. Cats do not prefer the chasing position because they do not derive from a line of ancestors that chased game. They love to play at sneaking up and pouncing. The fact that they also like to play at running away fits with the observation that they are relatively small and probably did have to flee from larger predators, including the wild ancestors of dogs. By the way, I have both a dog and a cat. The cat loves to provoke the dog into chasing her. She'll run up to him, give him a little play scratch with one of her paws, and then run away with him after her. Indoors they'll tear around the living and dining room that way, getting very excited. It works perfectly for both of them, because the dog prefers to chase and the cat prefers to be chased. They are clearly playing. The cat initiates it and the dog's tail is wagging all the time. -Peter