Tag: Marjorie Taylor

The Angry Cookie: Adults’ and Children’s Attribution of Human-like Facial and Emotional Characteristics to Inanimate Objects

Presenter: Mirjam Staeb

Mentor: Marjorie Taylor

AM Poster Presentation

Poster 45

Anthropomorphism is the tendency to describe inanimate objects with human-like characteristics. In this study we investigated individual differences in the perception of faces and emotional expressions in inanimate objects (e.g, a piece of toast with a pattern in the placement of raisins that made it look like a crying face). First, we investigated adults’ tendency to recognize faces in inanimate objects (N=32). The participants were shown pictures of human faces expressing different emotions, objects with features that could be interpreted as resembling human faces, and objects without such features and were asked to describe what they saw in each picture. We hypothesized that the degree to which adults characterized the pictures with human-like attributes would correlate with their scores on the Individual Differences in Anthropormorphism Questionnaire. The results of the adults’ study were used to develop a study with children in which they are shown a subset of the pictures and asked “What do you see in this picture?”. We were interested whether the ability to see faces in objects could be related to the children’s theory of mind, pretend play abilities and individual differences in other aspects of anthropomorphism. There were individual differences in the extent that adults described the pictures in anthropomorphic terms; the children’s data are currently being collected.

The Effects of Screen-Based Media on Young Children’s Social Understanding Skills

Presenter: Piper Arnold (Psychology)

Mentor: Marjorie Taylor

Oral Presentation

Panel A: “Culture and Education” Maple Room

Concurrent Session 2: 10:30-11:45am

Facilitator: Nedzer Erilus

Screen media is now a pervasive part of children’s lives, but little is know about its effects on young children’s developing social understanding skills. The goal of this study was to examine the association between frequency of screen media use and social understanding skills in children ages 4- to 6-years-old. Using a computerized questionnaire, parents (n = 50) reported on their children’s general media use, media use on a typical day, media culture in the household, and their social understanding skills. No relationship was found between the frequency of general media use and social understanding skills or between total screen time on a typical day and social understanding skills. However, there was a significant negative association between television culture in the household and children’s social understanding skills. This finding is consistent with previous research indicating that household media practices have the potential to influence early developmental processes.

The Effect of Learning to Sew on Self-Esteem, Self-Efficacy, and Optimism in Adolescent Girls

Presenter: Chiara Arpaia (Psychology)

Mentor: Marjorie Taylor

Oral Presentation

Panel A: “Enhancing Learning” Maple Room

Concurrent Session 1: 9:00-10:15am

Facilitator: Nedzer Erilus

This study explores the extent that teaching adolescent girls to sew their own clothes works as an intervention to improve self-esteem, optimism and self-efficacy. Twenty-six adolescent girls between the ages of 11 and 16 participated in a sewing class, held once per week for three hours over five weeks. Participants completed questionnaires on self-esteem, optimism, and self-efficacy. Self-esteem and optimism did not show a significant change. However, self-efficacy significantly increased over the five weeks of the sewing course (the Intervention Period) compared with the five weeks before the course (the Control Period). The intervention was run in the same manner as a community sewing class and the sample consisted of a variety of ethnicities, family situations and economic levels. Overall, the significant increase in self-efficacy, the high external validity of the study, the diversity of the sample, and the positive feedback on the course indicate that teaching adolescent girls how to sew in an intervention could potentially increase self-efficacy and, thereby, improve positive development.