Children's anthropomorphism of inanimate agents

• Published in: Wiley interdisciplinary reviews. Cognitive science 2024-07, Vol.15 (4), p.e1676-n/a
• Main Authors: Goldman, Elizabeth J., Poulin‐Dubois, Diane
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: animacy; Anthropomorphism; Child; Child Development - physiology; Child, Preschool; Children & youth; Humans; Infant; mentalizing; Robotics; Robots; social agents; Social Behavior; Social Perception; social robots
• ISSN: 1939-5078; 1939-5086; 1939-5086
• DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1676

This review article examines the extant literature on animism and anthropomorphism in infants and young children. A substantial body of work indicates that both infants and young children have a broad concept of what constitutes a sentient agent and react to inanimate objects as they do to people in the same context. The literature has also revealed a developmental pattern in which anthropomorphism decreases with age, but social robots appear to be an exception to this pattern. Additionally, the review shows that children attribute psychological properties to social robots less so than people but still anthropomorphize them. Importantly, some research suggests that anthropomorphism of social robots is dependent upon their morphology and human‐like behaviors. The extent to which children anthropomorphize robots is dependent on their exposure to them and the presence of human‐like features. Based on the existing literature, we conclude that in infancy, a large range of inanimate objects (e.g., boxes, geometric figures) that display animate motion patterns trigger the same behaviors observed in child‐adult interactions, suggesting some implicit form of anthropomorphism. The review concludes that additional research is needed to understand what infants and children judge as social agents and how the perception of inanimate agents changes over the lifespan. As exposure to robots and virtual assistants increases, future research must focus on better understanding the full impact that regular interactions with such partners will have on children's anthropomorphizing. This article is categorized under: Psychology > Learning Cognitive Biology > Cognitive Development Computer Science and Robotics > Robotics This review explores animism and anthropomorphism in children. It reveals that children attribute sentient qualities to both animate and inanimate entities from infancy, declining with age except for social robots. Emphasizing the impact of morphology and social behaviors, it calls for more research on how interactions with technology shape anthropomorphism across the lifespan.