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ERIC Number: ED661835
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2019-Feb
Pages: 16
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1748-2798
EISSN: EISSN-1748-2801
Anthropomorphic Media Exposure and Preschoolers' Anthropomorphic Thinking in China
Hui Li; Sierra Eisen; Angeline S. Lillard
Grantee Submission, Journal of Children and Media v13 n2 p149-162 2019
Children's media is replete with human-like portrayals of animals and objects that wear clothing, speak, drive cars, and experience human emotions. Recent research has shown that anthropomorphic portrayals of animals in books lead children to think anthropomorphically about real animals. Here we asked whether this is also the case for an inanimate object. Specifically, does exposure to an anthropomorphized train, as compared to a real train, increase children's tendency to make anthropomorphic attributions to real trains? We also investigated whether this effect with books extends to another common medium of presentation: video. Chinese preschoolers (n = 258) ages 4-6 were randomly assigned to watch a video or listen to a book about either a real or an anthropomorphized train. Before and after this exposure, children completed a modified Anthropomorphism Questionnaire--Child Form (IDAQ-CF), which included questions about trains. Children who were exposed to the anthropomorphic book significantly increased in their tendency to view real trains as having human-like qualities, as compared to control children who had no exposure. Video exposure had no effect on the anthropomorphism of trains.
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Institute of Education Sciences (ED); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: China
IES Funded: Yes
Grant or Contract Numbers: R305B140026; 1024293