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Anthropomorphic media and children's biological knowledge
Descriptive
TitleInfo
Title
Anthropomorphic media and children's biological knowledge
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Geerdts
NamePart
(type = given)
Megan
NamePart
(type = date)
1987-
DisplayForm
Megan Geerdts
Role
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author
Name
(type = personal)
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(type = family)
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Vanessa
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Vanessa LoBue
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Advisory Committee
Role
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chair
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Van de Walle
NamePart
(type = given)
Gretchen
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Gretchen Van de Walle
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
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(authority = RULIB)
internal member
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Boxer
NamePart
(type = given)
Paul
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Paul Boxer
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
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(authority = RULIB)
internal member
Name
(type = personal)
NamePart
(type = family)
Kotler Clarke
NamePart
(type = given)
Jennifer
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Jennifer Kotler Clarke
Affiliation
Advisory Committee
Role
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(authority = RULIB)
outside member
Name
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NamePart
Rutgers University
Role
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(authority = RULIB)
degree grantor
Name
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NamePart
Graduate School - Newark
Role
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(authority = RULIB)
school
TypeOfResource
Text
Genre
(authority = marcgt)
theses
OriginInfo
DateCreated
(qualifier = exact)
2014
DateOther
(qualifier = exact);
(type = degree)
2014-05
Place
PlaceTerm
(type = code)
xx
Language
LanguageTerm
(authority = ISO639-2b);
(type = code)
eng
Abstract
(type = abstract)
Anthropomorphism, the attribution of human characteristics to non-human entities, has long been a staple of children’s media. However, little research has directly measured the effect of anthropomorphism on children’s developing conceptual knowledge about animals. How does seeing a dancing, talking bear that lives in a house impact children’s understanding of biological and psychological properties of real bears? In Studies 1 and 2, the use of anthropomorphism in popular children’s television and storybooks was analyzed. In Study 3, parents reported on their children’s actual exposure to and preference for anthropomorphic media, verifying the findings in Studies 1 and 2. In Study 4, a parent-child storybook reading paradigm explored parent’s own use of biological and social language to explain biological properties to their children. Finally, in Study 5 we experimentally examined the impact of anthropomorphic language and/or pictures in storybooks on children’s anthropocentrism and learning about biological properties. Contrary to previous research, storybooks with anthropomorphic pictures led to an increase in children’s willingness to project a novel biological property from both humans and animals to other animals, thus decreasing anthropocentrism. Boys who were read a storybook with anthropomorphic pictures showed the highest performance on a generalization task. Additionally, both boys and girls provided higher-level explanations about the biological property after being read an anthropomorphic storybook. Thus, anthropomorphic media may actually help children learn by increasing similarities between humans and animals. Suggestions for future research are discussed. The current research sheds important light on the educational implications of anthropomorphism in children’s media, parent-child interaction, early childhood science education, and the development of children’s biological concepts.
Subject
(authority = RUETD)
Topic
Psychology
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Anthropomorphism
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Child psychology
RelatedItem
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TitleInfo
Title
Rutgers University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier
(type = RULIB)
ETD
Identifier
ETD_5571
PhysicalDescription
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electronic resource
InternetMediaType
application/pdf
InternetMediaType
text/xml
Extent
x, 114 p. : ill.
Note
(type = degree)
Ph.D.
Note
(type = bibliography)
Includes bibliographical references
Note
(type = vita)
Includes vita
Note
(type = statement of responsibility)
by Megan Geerdts
Subject
(authority = ETD-LCSH)
Topic
Biology--Social aspects
RelatedItem
(type = host)
TitleInfo
Title
Graduate School - Newark Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Identifier
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rucore10002600001
Location
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(displayLabel = Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey)
NjNbRU
Identifier
(type = doi)
doi:10.7282/T32Z13RV
Genre
(authority = ExL-Esploro)
ETD doctoral
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Rights
RightsDeclaration
(ID = rulibRdec0006)
The author owns the copyright to this work.
RightsHolder
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Name
FamilyName
Geerdts
GivenName
Megan
Role
Copyright Holder
RightsEvent
Type
Permission or license
DateTime
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(qualifier = exact);
(point = start)
2014-04-23 16:18:03
AssociatedEntity
Name
Megan Geerdts
Role
Copyright holder
Affiliation
Rutgers University. Graduate School - Newark
AssociatedObject
Type
License
Name
Author Agreement License
Detail
I hereby grant to the Rutgers University Libraries and to my school the non-exclusive right to archive, reproduce and distribute my thesis or dissertation, in whole or in part, and/or my abstract, in whole or in part, in and from an electronic format, subject to the release date subsequently stipulated in this submittal form and approved by my school. I represent and stipulate that the thesis or dissertation and its abstract are my original work, that they do not infringe or violate any rights of others, and that I make these grants as the sole owner of the rights to my thesis or dissertation and its abstract. I represent that I have obtained written permissions, when necessary, from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis or dissertation and will supply copies of such upon request by my school. I acknowledge that RU ETD and my school will not distribute my thesis or dissertation or its abstract if, in their reasonable judgment, they believe all such rights have not been secured. I acknowledge that I retain ownership rights to the copyright of my work. I also retain the right to use all or part of this thesis or dissertation in future works, such as articles or books.
Copyright
Status
Copyright protected
Availability
Status
Open
Reason
Permission or license
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Technical
RULTechMD
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ContentModel
ETD
OperatingSystem
(VERSION = 5.1)
windows xp
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