Young children's interest in live animals

Abstract

Animals are important stimuli for humans, and for children in particular. In three experiments, we explored children's affinity for animals. In Experiment 1, 11- to 40-month-old children were presented with a free-play session in which they were encouraged to interact with several interesting toys and two live animals - a fish and a hamster. Experiment 2 used the same methodology with 18- to 36-month-old children and two additional animals - a snake and a spider - to examine whether children's behaviours would differ for benign and potentially threatening animals. Finally, in Experiment 3, a more controlled paired-preference paradigm was employed to assess 18- to 33-month-old children's interactions with three live animals - a fish, hamster, and gecko - versus three physically similar toy animals. Across all three experiments, children interacted with the animals more often than with the toys. Further, they behaved differently towards the animals than the toys, talking about the animals more than the toys and asking more questions about them. The parents of the children also spent more time interacting with the animals, directing their children's attention more towards the animals than the toys. This research supports the idea that humans have an affinity for animals that draws their attention to animals, even when attractive toys are present.

Baby schema in human and animal faces induces cuteness perception and gaze allocation in children

“…Independently of the degree of baby schema, adult and children in our study showed a more positive appraisal for animal than for human stimuli, and, among animals, they gave the highest score to the dog followed by the cat (an effect that disappeared when viewing young faces: puppies and kittens received a similar score). Humans’ positive response toward animals (e.g., preference for animal over inanimate and human stimuli, positive behaviors directed to animals), as well as the highest rate of the dog, were previously shown in a number of studies (DeLoache et al, 2011; Lobue et al, 2012; Borgi and Cirulli, 2013). Our results suggest that the appeal of infantile features only partially explains why animals have a powerful hold over human perception.…”

“…A general proneness toward animals is observed in children from a very early stage of development (DeLoache et al, 2011; Lobue et al, 2012; Borgi and Cirulli, 2013). Children are more likely to be attentive and to have increased motivational levels in the presence of animals and this has led to the inclusion of different animal species both in educational and therapeutic interventions aimed at promoting healthy development in children (Cirulli et al, 2011; Endenburg and van Lith, 2011; Berry et al, 2013; O’Haire, 2013).…”

Animals in Dangerous Postures Enhance Learning, but Decrease Willingness to Protect Animals

“…Predatory animals are detected faster than flowers or mushrooms (LoBue & DeLoache, 2008;Öhman, Flykt, & Esteves, 2001) and tracked by the eyes for a longer time than non-predatory animals (Penkunas & Coss, 2013;Yorzinski, Penkunas, Platt, & Coss, 2014). Observations by children and adults revealed that physical interaction with live animals was more frequent than with toys (LoBue, Bloom Pickard, Sherman, Axford, & DeLoache, 2013). This evidence suggests that humans have an innate preference for animals and predatory animals in particular receive stronger attention.…”

Psychological Reasoning in Infancy

“…Not surprisingly, given their intense interest in humans and animals (e.g., LoBue et al 2013), infants rapidly begin to learn these cues and to use them in identifying novel agents (e.g., Arterberry & Bornstein 2002;Johnson et al 2001;Kamewari et al 2005;Träuble & Pauen 2011;Setoh et al 2013;Yoon & Johnson 2009). In a detour task, for example, 6.5-month-olds identified a humanoid robot as an agent even though it followed the same fixed path around the obstacle in each familiarization trial (Kamewari et al 2005).…”