Since a very young age humans attribute anthropomorphic features like intentions, perceptions and even feelings to artifacts. Why is this behavior so common? In the past developmental psychologists have considered this attitude as a primitive form of thinking. They maintained that young children where unable to distinguish between physical and mental events. Adults would adopt a similar attitude only when facing affectively charged or difficult situations. However, recent research has shown that also young children make distinctions between the “physical” and the “mental”. In this article I argue that anthropomorphism is not a primitive form of thinking but has its origins in interaction modalities acquired during infancy. A number of studies devoted to social development show that what we call “anthropomorphism” is an extension to non-humans of forms of interactions typical of human dialogue.
Aux origines de l'anthropomorphisme: intersubjectivité et théorie de l'esprit
AIRENTI, Gabriella
2012-01-01
Abstract
Since a very young age humans attribute anthropomorphic features like intentions, perceptions and even feelings to artifacts. Why is this behavior so common? In the past developmental psychologists have considered this attitude as a primitive form of thinking. They maintained that young children where unable to distinguish between physical and mental events. Adults would adopt a similar attitude only when facing affectively charged or difficult situations. However, recent research has shown that also young children make distinctions between the “physical” and the “mental”. In this article I argue that anthropomorphism is not a primitive form of thinking but has its origins in interaction modalities acquired during infancy. A number of studies devoted to social development show that what we call “anthropomorphism” is an extension to non-humans of forms of interactions typical of human dialogue.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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