The effects of anthropomorphism in science writing for non-experts A thesis submitted as a requirement for the degree of Master of Science Communication at The University of Western Australia by Rockwell Tomson Lyon McGellin 20913257 on 2 November 2017 Abstract Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics to non-human things or events. While it is a fundamental part of human psychology and language, some scientists regard it as a source of misconceptions. This creates tension for science writers. I tested the effects of anthropomorphic science writing on how non-expert audiences think and feel about the text's subject matter. Taking a mixed-methods experimental approach, I compared the effects of anthropomorphic and non-anthropomorphic popular science text on 174 adult readers' knowledge and understanding of the topic, and confidence and connection with the material. My results show that while reading any text at all improves readers' knowledge and ability to answer questions, the difference in understanding and enjoyment between anthropomorphic and non- anthropomorphic texts is not generally significant. There was some qualitative evidence of a stronger emotional connection with anthropomorphic text. This suggests that anthropomorphism acts as an evocative but potentially distracting example in science texts. However, it does not cause significant misconceptions. Science writers should feel free to use anthropomorphic techniques if they are appropriate for their topic and their audience. Acknowledgments I would like to thank my supervisors, Ann Grand and Miriam Sullivan, for their endless patience. Everything they have taught me is useful and important. I'd also like to thank Associate Professor Farida Fozdar, Grace Ritter, Jessica Smith, James Westgarth-Taylor, Morgan Lewis and Amanda Mwenda for their input and feedback. Finally, I'd like to acknowledge everyone who shared and reposted my recruitment materials around the web, as well as the 174 anonymous participants who responded to those materials. Thank you for your contribution to science (writing)! 2 Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................................. 2 Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................................. 2 Contents ................................................................................................................................................. 3 List of figures ...................................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 5 Background ............................................................................................................................................ 6 What is anthropomorphism? ............................................................................................................. 6 Why does it matter? ........................................................................................................................... 6 What do we know? ............................................................................................................................. 7 What don't we know? ......................................................................................................................... 8 Methodology ........................................................................................................................................ 10 Stimulus text .................................................................................................................................... 10 Modified text ................................................................................................................................. 11 Sampling and Recruitment .............................................................................................................. 11 Knowledge and understanding ....................................................................................................... 12 Confidence and connection ............................................................................................................. 13 Demographic questions ................................................................................................................... 14 Coding and validation ...................................................................................................................... 14 Statistical analysis ............................................................................................................................ 15 Results .................................................................................................................................................. 17 Knowledge and understanding ....................................................................................................... 19 Closed-ended knowledge questions ........................................................................................... 19 Anthropomorphic misconceptions ............................................................................................. 20 Non-explanations ......................................................................................................................... 25 Confidence and connection ............................................................................................................. 26 Human needs ............................................................................................................................... 26 Other displays of empathy ........................................................................................................... 29 Subjective reading experience .................................................................................................... 29 Discussion ............................................................................................................................................. 31 Interpretation ................................................................................................................................... 31 Stronger examples ....................................................................................................................... 31 Stronger formulations .................................................................................................................. 32 Stronger empathy ........................................................................................................................ 32 3 Lower perceived competence ..................................................................................................... 33 Positive effects of reading ............................................................................................................ 34 Limitations........................................................................................................................................ 34 Future research ................................................................................................................................ 35 Larger samples ............................................................................................................................. 35 Smaller examples ......................................................................................................................... 35 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................ 37 References ............................................................................................................................................ 38 Appendices ........................................................................................................................................... 48 Appendix 1: Anthropomorphic text ................................................................................................. 49 Appendix 2: Non-anthropomorphic text ......................................................................................... 57 Appendix 3: Concept maps .............................................................................................................. 64 Appendix 4: Recruitment materials ................................................................................................. 68 Appendix 5: Survey instrument ....................................................................................................... 69 Appendix 6: Codebook ..................................................................................................................... 82 Appendix 7: Ethical approval ........................................................................................................... 83 List of figures Figure 1: Participants' education levels .............................................................................................. 18 Figure 2: Participants' self-reported background knowledge ............................................................ 18 Figure 3: Average correct answers to knowledge questions used by each group ............................. 20 Figure 4: Average number of non-explanations used