Developmental Changes in Number Personification by Elementary School Children
Children often personify non-living objects, such as puppets and stars. This attribution is considered a healthy phenomenon, which can simulate social exchange and enhance children's understanding of social relationships. In this study, we considered that the tendency of children to engage in p...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2018-11-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02214/full |
| _version_ | 1818268269038010368 |
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| author | Eiko Matsuda Eiko Matsuda Yoshihiro S. Okazaki Michiko Asano Kazuhiko Yokosawa |
| author_facet | Eiko Matsuda Eiko Matsuda Yoshihiro S. Okazaki Michiko Asano Kazuhiko Yokosawa |
| author_sort | Eiko Matsuda |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Children often personify non-living objects, such as puppets and stars. This attribution is considered a healthy phenomenon, which can simulate social exchange and enhance children's understanding of social relationships. In this study, we considered that the tendency of children to engage in personification could potentially be observed in abstract entities, such as numbers. We hypothesized that children tend to attribute personalities to numbers, which diminishes during the course of development. By consulting the methodology to measure ordinal linguistic personification (OLP), which is a type of synesthesia, we quantified the frequency with which child and adult populations engage in number personification. Questionnaires were completed by 151 non-synesthetic children (9–12 years old) and 55 non-synesthetic adults. Children showed a higher tendency than adults to engage in number personification, with respect to temporal consistency and the frequency of choosing meaningful answers. Additionally, children tended to assign unique and exclusive descriptions to each number from zero to nine. By synthesizing the series of analyses, we revealed the process in which number personification diminishes throughout development. In the discussion, we examined the possibility that number personification serves as a discrimination clue to aid children's comprehension of the relationships between numbers. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T20:35:48Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-df39300d61704697ace9184590046fa1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T20:35:48Z |
| publishDate | 2018-11-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-df39300d61704697ace9184590046fa12022-12-22T00:12:56ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782018-11-01910.3389/fpsyg.2018.02214397087Developmental Changes in Number Personification by Elementary School ChildrenEiko Matsuda0Eiko Matsuda1Yoshihiro S. Okazaki2Michiko Asano3Kazuhiko Yokosawa4Division of Advanced Information Technology and Computer Science, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo, JapanJapan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), Tokyo, JapanGraduate School of Education, Okayama University, Okayama, JapanDepartment of Psychology, College of Contemporary Psychology, Rikkyo University, Saitama, JapanDepartment of Psychology, Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, JapanChildren often personify non-living objects, such as puppets and stars. This attribution is considered a healthy phenomenon, which can simulate social exchange and enhance children's understanding of social relationships. In this study, we considered that the tendency of children to engage in personification could potentially be observed in abstract entities, such as numbers. We hypothesized that children tend to attribute personalities to numbers, which diminishes during the course of development. By consulting the methodology to measure ordinal linguistic personification (OLP), which is a type of synesthesia, we quantified the frequency with which child and adult populations engage in number personification. Questionnaires were completed by 151 non-synesthetic children (9–12 years old) and 55 non-synesthetic adults. Children showed a higher tendency than adults to engage in number personification, with respect to temporal consistency and the frequency of choosing meaningful answers. Additionally, children tended to assign unique and exclusive descriptions to each number from zero to nine. By synthesizing the series of analyses, we revealed the process in which number personification diminishes throughout development. In the discussion, we examined the possibility that number personification serves as a discrimination clue to aid children's comprehension of the relationships between numbers.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02214/fullpersonificationdevelopmentsynesthesiaordinal linguistic personificationelementary school children |
| spellingShingle | Eiko Matsuda Eiko Matsuda Yoshihiro S. Okazaki Michiko Asano Kazuhiko Yokosawa Developmental Changes in Number Personification by Elementary School Children Frontiers in Psychology personification development synesthesia ordinal linguistic personification elementary school children |
| title | Developmental Changes in Number Personification by Elementary School Children |
| title_full | Developmental Changes in Number Personification by Elementary School Children |
| title_fullStr | Developmental Changes in Number Personification by Elementary School Children |
| title_full_unstemmed | Developmental Changes in Number Personification by Elementary School Children |
| title_short | Developmental Changes in Number Personification by Elementary School Children |
| title_sort | developmental changes in number personification by elementary school children |
| topic | personification development synesthesia ordinal linguistic personification elementary school children |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02214/full |
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