Movement and Children's Attributions of Life Properties

Abstract

Although it is well established that movement plays an important role in determining children's judgements about life properties, there has been little research addressing the issue of whether some types of movement are more likely to be associated with living objects. A total of 150 subjects aged 3, 5, 7, and 9 years, as well as adults, were asked to judge whether properties characteristic of animates should be attributed to an artificial stimulus presented either stationary or in movement. Two types of movement were manipulated: animate-type movement (e.g. spontaneous); and inanimatetype movement (e.g. elicited). Three-year-olds failed to correctly attribute most properties to familiar objects. In 5 to 9-year-old children, and adults, the attribution of animistic characteristics was greater in both movement conditions relative to the stationary condition, although animate-type movement induced more property attributions. Furthermore, children at all ages showed a high level of consistency in their judgements about different life properties. These findings suggest that although knowledge about life properties develops during the preschool period, over-attribution of mental states is also characteristic of that developmental period.