{"title":"Children’s animistic beliefs toward a humanoid robot and other objects","authors":"Kosuke Taniguchi , Mako Okanda","doi":"10.1016/j.jecp.2024.105945","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>This study examined children’s beliefs about a humanoid robot by examining their behavioral and verbal responses. We investigated whether 3- and 5-year-old children would treat the humanoid robot gently along with other objects and tools with and without a face and whether 3- and 5-year-olds would attribute moral, perceptual, and psychological properties to these targets. Although 3-year-olds did not treat objects gently or rudely, they were likely to affirm that hitting targets was acceptable despite targets having psychological and perceptual properties. Thus, 3-year-olds’ perception of the targets was incongruent with their behavior toward them. Most 5-year-olds treated a robot gently and were likely to affirm the robot’s psychological characteristics. Behaviors and perceptions of the robot differed between 3- and 5-year-olds. Thus, children may start believing that robots are not alive at age five, and they can distinguish them from other objects even when the latter have faces. Developmental changes in children’s animistic beliefs are also discussed.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":48391,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8000,"publicationDate":"2024-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Experimental Child Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022096524000857","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q3","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
This study examined children’s beliefs about a humanoid robot by examining their behavioral and verbal responses. We investigated whether 3- and 5-year-old children would treat the humanoid robot gently along with other objects and tools with and without a face and whether 3- and 5-year-olds would attribute moral, perceptual, and psychological properties to these targets. Although 3-year-olds did not treat objects gently or rudely, they were likely to affirm that hitting targets was acceptable despite targets having psychological and perceptual properties. Thus, 3-year-olds’ perception of the targets was incongruent with their behavior toward them. Most 5-year-olds treated a robot gently and were likely to affirm the robot’s psychological characteristics. Behaviors and perceptions of the robot differed between 3- and 5-year-olds. Thus, children may start believing that robots are not alive at age five, and they can distinguish them from other objects even when the latter have faces. Developmental changes in children’s animistic beliefs are also discussed.
期刊介绍:
The Journal of Experimental Child Psychology is an excellent source of information concerning all aspects of the development of children. It includes empirical psychological research on cognitive, social/emotional, and physical development. In addition, the journal periodically publishes Special Topic issues.