Rethinking youth sports - cooperative games; includes related article on using the research - Research Update

Parks & Recreation, Dec, 1997 by Georgianna Ramsey, Bryan Rank

Cooperative Games

One of the major supporters and theorists of cooperative play is Terry Orlick. He described cooperative games as including cooperation, creativity, and choice. Cooperative games, typically, are competitive games that have been modified so that the games are no longer competitive in nature. An example of a cooperative game is musical chairs played where the participants have to share chairs when the number of chairs decreases, until everyone is sharing one chair. Cooperative games emphasize helping others, collaboration, and cooperation.

Benefits of Cooperative Games

Cooperative games can help teach children and adults that working together with others, and the group as a whole, is more important than individual achievement. If cooperative games were emphasized, it is possible that learning cooperation while playing games would carry over to other aspects of life, perhaps lowering the potential of aggressive behavior and violence.

The movement from competitive games to cooperative games can be beneficial for many reasons. Cooperative games can increase self-esteem, decrease aggressive behaviors, and enhance positive socialization. There have been efforts to study the effects of cooperative games on young children (Chambers & Abrami, 1991; Milton, Cleveland, Bennett-Gates, 1995). One such study evaluated the effects of competitive and cooperative games on aggressive and cooperative behaviors in young children (Bay-Hintz, Peterson & Quiltich, 1994). To evaluate the differences in behavior between competitive and cooperative games, the participants played both types of games, during which behaviors were recorded. The results revealed that during cooperative games, cooperative behaviors increased and aggression decreased. Conversely, competitive games were accompanied and followed by a decrease in cooperative behaviors and an increase in aggression (Bay-Hintz et al). It appears how we play can influence how we behave.

While cooperative games can decrease the occurrence of aggressive behaviors, the cooperative behaviors exhibited can also lead to positive socialization with others. Cooperative behaviors, such as sharing, turn taking, and helping others, can lead to better socialization with peers (Orlick, 1981). Furthermore, sharing in a cooperative environment increased almost three times as much as in a competitive environment. Conversely, children in the competitive environment decreased their sharing almost three times as much as the children in the cooperative environment. Along with the higher amount of sharing and positive socialization, there tends to be an increase in the children's happiness with the tasks (Grineski, 1989; Orlick).

When children have positive socialization and cooperative behaviors, there is a tendency for an increase in self-esteem. The increase in self-esteem results as a collaboration of several different aspects and occurrences. One occurrence that could happen is that with less aggressive behavior, children may increase their friendships, which, in turn, can increase their self-esteem. Another reason for an increase in self-esteem is that through cooperative learning and play, the child discovers hidden talents. A third way in which cooperation and positive socialization can attribute to positive self-esteem is that children can pass on their new information to others, testifying their new abilities.