dispositional criteria
What is the meaning of 'dispositional criteria' in the context below?

"A majority of the contemporary definitions of play focus on several key criteria. The founder of the National Institute for Play, Stuart Brown, has described play as ‘anything that spontaneously is done for its own sake’. More specifically, he says it ‘appears purposeless, produces pleasure and joy, [and] leads one to the next stage of mastery’ (as quoted in Tippett 2008). Similarly, Miller and Almon (2009) say that play includes ‘activities that are freely chosen and directed by children and arise from intrinsic motivation’. Often, play is defined along a continuum as more or less playful using the following set of behavioral and dispositional criteria (e.g. Rubin et al. 1983)." (taken from IELTS 14 Tests)

Question

dispositional criteria
What is the meaning of 'dispositional criteria' in the context below?

"A majority of the contemporary definitions of play focus on several key criteria. The founder of the National Institute for Play, Stuart Brown, has described play as ‘anything that spontaneously is done for its own sake’. More specifically, he says it ‘appears purposeless, produces pleasure and joy, [and] leads one to the next stage of mastery’ (as quoted in Tippett 2008). Similarly, Miller and Almon (2009) say that play includes ‘activities that are freely chosen and directed by children and arise from intrinsic motivation’. Often, play is defined along a continuum as more or less playful using the following set of behavioral and dispositional criteria (e.g. Rubin et al. 1983)." (taken from IELTS 14 Tests)

Answer

Thank you, Anthony!

Answer

In this case, I believe dispositional criteria is a reference to a psychological concept called a dispositional attribute.  It means that the action or behavior is selected for internal not external reasons.  It gets to the idea of what motivates someone.  To state it another way, play is play when someone chooses to play not when they are forced to play.