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DEVELOPMENT and CORRELATES of ANTHROPOMORPHISM By DEVELOPMENT AND CORRELATES OF ANTHROPOMORPHISM by DENIZ TAHIROGLU A DISSERTATION Presented to the Department of Psychology and the Graduate School of the University of Oregon in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2012 DISSERTATION APPROVAL PAGE Student: Deniz Tahiroglu Title: Development and Correlates of Anthropomorphism This dissertation has been accepted and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy degree in the Department of Psychology by: Marjorie Taylor Co-Chair Lou Moses Co-Chair Jennifer H. Pfeifer Member Lara Bovilsky Outside Member and Kimberly Andrews Espy Vice President for Research & Innovation/Dean of the Graduate School Original approval signatures are on file with the University of Oregon Graduate School. Degree awarded September 2012 ii © 2012 Deniz Tahiroglu iii DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Deniz Tahiroglu Doctor of Philosophy Department of Psychology September 2012 Title: Development and Correlates of Anthropomorphism One of the most heavily researched topics of cognitive development concerns children’s growing understanding of people’s behaviors as reflecting mental states such as beliefs, desires and intentions. Anthropomorphism is the overextension of this conceptual framework, referred to as “theory of mind”, to nonhuman animals and inanimate objects. In this dissertation, I investigate the development and correlates of anthropomorphism building on and extending past research with children and adults. In Study 1, I investigated the relation between anthropomorphism, social understanding, and social behaviors that are known to correlate with theory of mind, such as empathy, and prosocial attitudes in a college sample (N = 919). Contrary to my predictions, results showed that anthropomorphism is only weakly related to the measures of social understanding. There was, however, some evidence for a link between anthropomorphism and imaginary companions; individuals who had a history of imaginary companions scored higher on anthropomorphism. In Study 2, I examined the link between theory of mind and anthropomorphism in preschool children. In addition, I investigated the developmental trajectory of anthropomorphism from age 4 to 6 and the relation between anthropomorphism and role play and social preferences. Seventy-four children (36 girls; iv Mage = 5 years, 5 months; SD = 9 months) took part in this study. In order to assess anthropomorphism in this age group, I used two methods: interview and movie narrative measures. Results revealed no age-related changes in anthropomorphism scores of the children. As in Study 1, I did not find a strong relationship between the theory of mind measures and anthropomorphism. There was, however, more evidence for a link between the interview measure of anthropomorphism and role play, and social preferences of children. Overall, in both studies, theory of mind, the most obvious candidate as a correlate of anthropomorphism, was, at best, not a strong predictor of the anthropomorphism, suggesting the need to rethink how developing knowledge about people is related to the overextension of this knowledge to nonhuman entities. It is possible that a rudimentary understanding of humans is necessary to be able to overextend it, but whether you overextend it might be linked to other factors. v CURRICULUM VITAE NAME OF AUTHOR: Deniz Tahiroglu GRADUATE AND UNDERGRADUATE SCHOOLS ATTENDED: University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, USA Bogazici University, Istanbul, Turkey DEGREES AWARDED: Doctor of Philosophy, Psychology, 2012, University of Oregon Master of Science, Psychology, 2006, University of Oregon Bachelor of Science, Psychology, 2005, Bogazici University AREAS OF SPECIAL INTEREST: Anthropomorphism Theory of Mind Imaginary Companions Pretend Play PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: Assistant to Department Head, University of Oregon, 2007-2008, 2010-2011 Graduate Teaching Fellow, University of Oregon, 2005-2007, 2008-2010, 2011- 2012 GRANTS, AWARDS, AND HONORS: Graduate Student Travel Award, University of Oregon (200 7, 2009) Graduate Student Research Award, University of Oregon (2010, 2011) Carolyn M. Stokes Scholarship, University of Oregon, 2010- 2011 PUBLICATIONS: Tahiroglu, D., Moses, L. J., Carlson, S. M., Olofson, E. L., & Sabbagh, M. A. (invited for resubmission). The Children’s Social Understanding Scale: Construction and validation of a parent- report theory of mind measure. vi Tahiroglu, D., Mannering, A. M., & Taylor, M. (2011). Visual and auditory imagery associated with children’s imaginary companions. Imagination, Cognition, and Personality, 31, 99-112. Moses, L. J. & Tahiroglu, D. (2010). Clarifying the relation between executive function and children’s theories of mind. In J. Carpendale, G. Iarocci, U. Müller, B. Sokol, & A. Young (Eds.), Self- and Social-Regulation: Exploring the Relations between Social Interaction, Social Cognition, and the Development of Executive Functions (pp.218-233). Oxford University Press. Carlson, S. M., Tahiroglu, D., & Taylor, M. (2008). Links between dissociation and role play in a non-clinical sample of preschool children. Journal of Trauma and Dissociation, 9, 149-171. vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my advisors Lou Moses and Marjorie Taylor for their encouragement and excellent guidance throughout my graduate education. I am particularly grateful for Marjorie Taylor's exceptional and unconditional support, not only in my academic life but also in my personal life. I have been amazingly fortunate to have two outstanding advisors and I will always be indebted to both for their time and mentorship. I would also like to thank my committee members, Jennifer Pfeifer and Lara Bovilsky, for their thorough feedback and advice throughout this process. Discussions with them were extremely helpful in inspiring new ways of thinking about anthropomorphism. I am also grateful to the members of the Imagination Lab (Naomi Aguiar, Candice Mottweiler, and Alison Shawber Sachet), members of the Developing Mind Lab (Caitlin Mahy, Tasha Oswald, and Mary Ann Winter-Messiers), and the members of the writing group (Karyn Lewis, Kimberly Livingstone, Caitlin Mahy, Melissa Platt, and Alison Shawber Sachet) for their feedback and encouragement. My thanks also go to Simon Adler, Paul Brisentine, Jessica Kosie, Emilee Naylor, Mirjam Staeb, and Yasu Tanaka, for their research assistance. I especially thank Annmarie Hulette, Elif Isbell, Kimberly Livingstone, Ida Moadab, and Ozge Durmus Moran for their support and great friendship. Last but not least, I thank my family for their love and never-ending support. viii TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 1 Overview ................................................................................................................ 1 Definition of Anthropomorphism .......................................................................... 2 Theoretical Perspectives on Anthropomorphism ................................................... 3 Anthropomorphism Research with Adults............................................................. 5 Anthropomorphism Research with Children ......................................................... 11 Anthropomorphism and Theory of Mind ............................................................... 15 Goals of the Dissertation ........................................................................................ 26 II. STUDY 1: CORRELATES OF ANTHROPOMORPHISM IN ADULTS ............ 28 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 28 Method ................................................................................................................... 32 Results .................................................................................................................... 38 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 43 III. STUDY 2: DEVELOPMENT AND CORRELATES OF ANTHROPOMORPHISM IN PRESCHOOL CHILDREN .................................. 47 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 47 Method ................................................................................................................... 54 Results .................................................................................................................... 63 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 78 IV. GENERAL DISCUSSION .................................................................................... 82 Summary of Major Findings .................................................................................. 82 ix Chapter Page Measurement Issues .............................................................................................. 84 Anthropomorphism Applied to Different Types of Nonhumans .......................... 87 Relation between Anthropomorphism and Social Understanding ......................... 89 Future Directions .................................................................................................. 92 Final Thoughts ...................................................................................................... 96 APPENDICES ............................................................................................................
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