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Social playfulness is an evolutionarily grounded and engaging form of social interaction in which individuals step outside routine roles and predictable scripts to co-create imaginative and surprising exchanges. This joyful, intrinsically rewarding activity offers substantial benefits, fostering a flexible and diverse behavioral repertoire, supporting adaptation to changing environments, and subserving a wide range of social skills. Converging evidence from the performing arts and therapeutic contexts demonstrates its beneficial effects on mental, cognitive, and physical health. Yet, despite its central role in adaptive behaviour and its considerable therapeutic potential, empirical research on the underlying mechanisms of social playfulness in humans remains limited.

Across a series of studies involving more than 200 younger and older adults, we examined physiological, facial, and affective processes during playful improvisational interactions with a trained facilitator, compared to control interactions characterized by low novelty and spontaneity. Results indicated that short episodes of playful exchanges elicited a distinctive profile of optimal arousal, marked by surges in sympathetic activation, considerable increases in positive affect, and a strengthened sense of social connection. These findings were consistent across different age groups.

I propose that social playfulness transforms uncertainty-driven arousal into positive, energizing affect, positioning it as a key mechanism through which arts-based interventions foster exploration, curiosity, novelty, and social connection.