(Un)Real Animals: Anthropomorphism and Early Learning About Animals

Abstract

Children are frequently exposed to anthropomorphic depictions of animals. The impact of anthropomorphism on children's development of factual and biological knowledge about real animals has consequences for how we engage children in early learning about the natural world. In this article, I discuss recent cross‐cultural and experimental studies on children's exposure to differing representations of animals, and studies that highlight the role that experiences with and about animals play in the development of biological reasoning and factual learning. Continued research that considers the conditions in which anthropomorphism may support early learning can explain discrepancies in previous research and help advance the ways we address the place of anthropomorphism in early educational experiences.

Do storybooks with anthropomorphized animal characters promote prosocial behaviors in young children?

“…In addition, future research should determine if anthropomorphism in books has the same effect on older children as on younger children (Geerdts, 2016). For example, future research should examine whether the book type effect found here can be extended to other prosocial behaviors such as helping and truth-telling.…”

“…For example, future research should examine whether the book type effect found here can be extended to other prosocial behaviors such as helping and truth-telling. In addition, future research should determine if anthropomorphism in books has the same effect on older children as on younger children (Geerdts, 2016). Recent work has shown that older children show higher levels of anthropomorphism than younger children (Herrmann et al, 2010;Severson & Lemm, 2016), possibly as a result of increased exposure to anthropomorphic media.…”

Transparency about a Robot's Lack of Human Psychological Capacities

“…Second, robots' interactive character may strengthen the illusion of reciprocity, which may complicate the attenuation of child-robot relationship formation. At the same time, it has been shown, for example, that children who have more knowledge of animalswhich are, like robots, embodied and interactive-are less likely to apply anthropocentric reasoning to animals [25]. Moreover, from 8 to 9 years of age, children develop their capacity to distinguish between what is real and what is not, notably in a media context [64].…”

Kuinka ihmismieli vääristää keskustelua tekoälyn riskeistä ja etiikasta – Kognitiotieteellisiä näkökulmia keskusteluun

“…Kehityspsykologisen tutkimuksen valossa tiedämme, että lapset heijastavat mielellistä kyvykkyyttä esimerkiksi pehmoleluihinsa (Geerdts, 2016); ja myös aikuisilla on vastaava taipumus. Maija-Riitta Ollila (2019) kutsuu tätä ihmistämiseksi kankean antropomorfismi -sanan sijaan.…”