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

Abstract

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.

The role of childhood trauma in cognitive performance in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder – A systematic review

“…These deficits often precede the emergence of clinical symptoms, and are relatively stable during the course of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder (Hill et al, 2008; Kuswanto et al, 2015a; Kuswanto et al, 2015b). Epidemiological and clinical studies have also consistently highlighted the impact of stress-related environmental risk factors, including childhood trauma (CT) or childhood adversity (including physical abuse, physical neglect, emotional abuse, emotional neglect and sexual abuse) (Day et al, 1987; Lataster et al, 2012; Mayo et al, 2017; Holtzman et al, 2013; Bechdolf et al, 2010; Gershon et al, 2013; Thompson et al, 2009; van Os et al, 2010; Walder et al, 2014), urbanicity (McGrath et al, 2004; Newbury et al, 2017), and cannabis use (Murray et al, 2017) in the development of psychosis (Aiello et al, 2012; Fusar-Poli et al, 2017; Misiak et al, 2017).…”

Imagining Others’ Minds: The Positive Relation Between Children’s Role Play and Anthropomorphism

“…For example, 5-year-olds and adults were more likely than 3- and 4-year-olds to perceive internal states in Heider and Simmel’s (1944) movie of animated shapes ( Springer et al, 1996 ). In other work, 4- and 6-year-olds did not differ in anthropomorphism of animals ( Li et al, 2017 ), yet 9-year-olds were more likely than 5-year-olds to anthropomorphize animals ( Severson and Lemm, 2016 ). Taking these studies together, 5-year-olds appear quite adult-like when using movement as a cue to infer internal states to simple geometric shapes, and further age-related changes are evident between 5 and 9 years when endorsing anthropomorphic beliefs about animals.…”

“…Taking these studies together, 5-year-olds appear quite adult-like when using movement as a cue to infer internal states to simple geometric shapes, and further age-related changes are evident between 5 and 9 years when endorsing anthropomorphic beliefs about animals. Still, other studies show no significant age-related changes in anthropomorphism of technology and inanimate nature between 4- and 6-year-olds ( Li et al, 2017 ) or 5-, 7-, and 9-year-olds ( Severson and Lemm, 2016 ), although descriptively younger children endorsed more anthropomorphic beliefs about technology and inanimate nature. The effect sizes in these studies were small to medium (Cohen’s d ranged from 0.29 to 0.55) suggesting they may have been underpowered to detect these effects (although note that age-related effects were not the primary goal of either study).…”

“…First, anthropomorphism of animals, technology, and inanimate nature is independent from the anthropomorphism of supernatural (or spiritual) entities ( Waytz et al, 2010a , Study 1; Willard and Norenzayan, 2013 ). Second, anthropomorphism of animals is distinct from anthropomorphism of inanimate nature and technology (although they are correlated), and both children and adults anthropomorphize animals to a greater degree than inanimate nature and technology ( Waytz et al, 2010a , Study 2; Severson and Lemm, 2016 ; Li et al, 2017 ).…”

From fun to fantasy: Gaming experiences, perceived presence, and adolescent romantic parasocial attachments in romantic video games.

“…The use of touch in RVGs is specifically designed to simulate tactile interactions, initiate social contact, elicit responses, and create a more human-like romantic relationship with the virtual partner (Koike et al, 2020). The interactivity of touch screens not only allows players to anthropomorphize the game characters, but also creates a sense of presence and influences cognitive input (Benski & Fisher, 2013; H. Li et al, 2017).…”