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Marriott, Stuart

doi:10.1023/a:1019677931406

Cited by 54 publications

(34 citation statements)

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“…We know that by 5 years of age, children are especially sensitive to cultural discourse about biological phenomena (Waxman et al, 2007). In urban communities, where direct contact with non-human animals is relatively limited (Rogoff et al, 2003) and where images of non-human animals in children’s books, discourse, and media often take an anthropocentric cast (Marriott, 2002; Pentimonti et al, 2011; Dehghani et al, 2013), young children encounter considerable support (intended or not) for an anthropocentric perspective. The results of the current experiment reveal their sensitivity to these anthropocentric portrayals in their reasoning.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Humans (really) are animals: picture-book reading influences 5-year-old urban childrenâ€™s construal of the relation between humans and non-human animals

et al. 2014

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What is the relation between humans and non-human animals? From a biological perspective, we view humans as one species among many, but in the fables and films we create for children, we often offer an anthropocentric perspective, imbuing non-human animals with human-like characteristics. What are the consequences of these distinctly different perspectives on children’s reasoning about the natural world? Some have argued that children universally begin with an anthropocentric perspective and that acquiring a biological perspective requires a basic conceptual change (cf. Carey, 1985). But recent work reveals that this anthropocentric perspective, evidenced in urban 5-year-olds, is not evident in 3-year-olds (Herrmann etal., 2010). This indicates that the anthropocentric perspective is not an obligatory first step in children’s reasoning about biological phenomena. In the current paper, we introduced a priming manipulation to assess whether 5-year-olds’ reasoning about a novel biological property is influenced by the perspectives they encounter in children’s books. Just before participating in a reasoning task, each child read a book about bears with an experimenter. What varied was whether bears were depicted from an anthropomorphic (Berenstain Bears) or biological perspective (Animal Encyclopedia). The priming had a dramatic effect. Children reading the Berenstain Bears showed the standard anthropocentric reasoning pattern, but those reading the Animal Encyclopedia adopted a biological pattern. This offers evidence that urban 5-year-olds can adopt either a biological or a human-centered stance, depending upon the context. Thus, children’s books and other media are double-edged swords. Media may (inadvertently) support human-centered reasoning in young children, but may also be instrumental in redirecting children’s attention to a biological model.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There is no doubt that images of non-human animals that children encounter in the books and media we design for them often take an anthropocentric cast (Marriott, 2002). But can representations like these actually influence their reasoning about the natural world?…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Humans (really) are animals: picture-book reading influences 5-year-old urban childrenâ€™s construal of the relation between humans and non-human animals

et al. 2014

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“…In addition, adding fantastical elements in picture books could lead children to adopt an anthropocentric view of the natural world (Marriott, 2002; Sackes et al, 2009; Ganea et al, 2011). Picture books are a significant source of information about the biological world for young children and yet the majority of books for young children present the natural world in highly distorted ways (Marriott, 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Picture books are a significant source of information about the biological world for young children and yet the majority of books for young children present the natural world in highly distorted ways (Marriott, 2002). Animal characters exhibit human characteristics and their natural environments are distorted, thus raising the question of how these representations of animals in picture books affect children's understanding of the biological world.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do cavies talk? The effect of anthropomorphic picture books on children's knowledge about animals

et al. 2014

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Many books for young children present animals in fantastical and unrealistic ways, such as wearing clothes, talking and engaging in human-like activities. This research examined whether anthropomorphism in children's books affects children's learning and conceptions of animals, by specifically assessing the impact of depictions (a bird wearing clothes and reading a book) and language (bird described as talking and as having human intentions). In Study 1, 3-, 4-, and 5-year-old children saw picture books featuring realistic drawings of a novel animal. Half of the children also heard factual, realistic language, while the other half heard anthropomorphized language. In Study 2, we replicated the first study using anthropomorphic illustrations of real animals. The results show that the language used to describe animals in books has an effect on children's tendency to attribute human-like traits to animals, and that anthropomorphic storybooks affect younger children's learning of novel facts about animals. These results indicate that anthropomorphized animals in books may not only lead to less learning but also influence children's conceptual knowledge of animals.

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“…This playful use of various media affects their development and learning (Moreno, 2016). A great amount of anthropomorphism exists in interactive games designed for young children, with inanimate objects and animals being made to look and act like humans (for a review, see Hartman and Vorderer, 2009), a phenomenon already widely observed in children’s picture books about animals and their natural environment (Marriott, 2002). …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Do Young Chinese Children Gain Anthropomorphism after Exposure to Personified Touch-Screen and Board Games?

Hsueh

Wang

et al. 2017

Front. Psychol.

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Research shows that preschoolers are likely to anthropomorphize not only animals, but also inanimate toy after being exposed to books that personify these objects. Can such an effect also arise through young children’s use of touch-screen games? The present study is the first to examine whether playing a touch-screen personified train game affects young children’s anthropomorphism of real trains. Seventy-nine 4- and 6-year-old children were randomly assigned to play either a touch-screen game or a board game of Thomas the Tank Engine for 10 min. They completed the Individual Differences in Anthropomorphism Questionnaire–Child Form (IDAQ-CF) (two subscales: Technology/Inanimate Nature, Animate Nature) and an additional four items about the anthropomorphism of real trains, before (T1) and after (T2) the game. Overall results showed that children manifested a small but statistically significant increase in anthropomorphizing of real trains after their exposure to both games, claiming that real trains were like humans. Interestingly, 4-year-old children in the board game group tended to anthropomorphize real trains more than those in the touch-screen group, whereas the reverse was true for the 6-year-old children. The results suggest that touch-screen games may delay the decline of children’s anthropomorphism during the cognitive and socio-emotional transition that occurs in children aged 5–7. These findings have implications for future research on how touch-screen games increase children’s anthropomorphism of the real world, and more generally, for evaluation of the influence of the growing use of touch-screen games on young children’s learning.

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Cited by 54 publications

References 0 publications

Humans (really) are animals: picture-book reading influences 5-year-old urban childrenâ€™s construal of the relation between humans and non-human animals

Humans (really) are animals: picture-book reading influences 5-year-old urban childrenâ€™s construal of the relation between humans and non-human animals

Do cavies talk? The effect of anthropomorphic picture books on children's knowledge about animals

Do Young Chinese Children Gain Anthropomorphism after Exposure to Personified Touch-Screen and Board Games?

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