Playing with Barbie dolls can significantly enhance children's social skills and foster empathy, a new study has revealed.
Researchers at Cardiff University discovered that engaging with dolls aids both boys and girls in reaching crucial developmental milestones related to social understanding.
This was particularly beneficial for children struggling with peer interactions.
The six-week study observed that children were more inclined to use language expressing emotions and engage in social play when interacting with dolls, compared to screen time with tablets.
Furthermore, doll play encouraged greater interaction with siblings, friends, or parents.
Dr Sarah Gerson, of Cardiff University’s School of Psychology, said: “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.”
Over the six weeks, researchers assigned children aged four to eight to play with either Barbie and Ken dolls or a tablet with pre-loaded games, and asked their parents to keep diaries about how often they played with them, how long for, and whether their child played with anyone.
The games loaded on the tablet were intended to be open-ended without strict objectives as playing with dolls is, and included ones in which children can build a city for characters or style characters’ hair.
At the beginning and the end of the six weeks, the children were tested on how well they understood the mental states of others through play sessions in a laboratory, and a specific test measuring the concept of “false belief”.
False belief is the ability to understand that others may hold beliefs that are incorrect, and is a cornerstone of the concept of “theory of mind” – the ability to understand and differentiate the thoughts of others.
Dr Gerson said theory of mind “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,” she added.
The findings come after Government research found around 98% of children were watching screens on a daily basis by the age of two, and parents and teachers warned they were finding it harder to concentrate on learning when they started school.
Research has also found children with the highest screen time – around five hours a day – could say significantly fewer words than those at the other end of the scale who watched for around 44 minutes.
The Government is expected to publish guidance on screen time for under-fives in April.
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