The increasing integration of humanoid robots into educational and social contexts underscores the importance of understanding how young children perceive robots. This study examines how children aged 3 to 6 years ( N = 90, 54 females) and adults ( N = 24, 11 females) attribute physical, biological, and mental properties to humanoid robots, assessing the impact of humanoid appearance on anthropomorphic perceptions. Participants engaged in a structured card-choice task featuring stimuli varying in humanoid characteristics, including an intelligent phone and robots with differing degrees of humanoid features. Results revealed that while children predominantly recognized robots as ”non-living,” their attributions were significantly influenced by anthropomorphic features, particularly eyes and limbs. Younger children (3-5 years) demonstrated higher levels of anthropomorphism compared to older children and adults, frequently attributing biological and mental properties to robots with pronounced human-like features. These findings advance previous research by documenting the developmental trajectory of anthropomorphic perceptions from early preschool (ages 3–6) to adulthood. In contrast to prior literature, our study manipulates humanoid appearances along a spectrum (from non-humanoid devices to fully humanoid robots), identifying expressive eyes and articulated limbs as distinct visual features that disproportionately drive young children's anthropomorphic attributions. This developmental perspective and systematic stimulus comparison provide novel insights with direct implications for designing educational robots tailored for young children. Future research should explore interactive stimuli to further understand the detailed effects of humanoid robotics on child development.
Mao et al. (Mon,) studied this question.
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