Journal of Psychiatry

Partial anthropomorphism and ontological violations in childrenâ??s drawings of supernatural agents: A classification method

2^nd International Conference on Adolescent Medicine and Child Psychology

October 06-07, 2016 London, UK

Gregory Dessart, Christelle Cocco, Carine Karlen, Zhargalma Dandarova Robert and Pierre-Yves Brandt

University of Lausanne, Switzerland

Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Psychiatry

Abstract:

It is a natural tendency for human beings to interpret phenomena occurring around them as caused by some intentional agency, leading to anthropomorphic inferences. Various studies have attempted to explain such a disposition by Theory of Mind specificities. Some authors have also suggested that violations of intuitive principles take place when inferring about the role and contribution of supernatural agents. Such ontological violations may involve various degrees of anthropomorphism used by children and adolescents in the depiction of gods. Therefore, participants from different countries and cultures (i.e., Japan, Russia, Switzerland) were asked to draw God as they imagined, using a standardized method. Their compositions were annotated with a hierarchical tree-based online interface. Curated material was analyzed using two different methods: one focused on the ontological categories covered, and the other one recorded various degrees in the use of anthropomorphic features. Cluster analysis and decision trees allowed differential developmental trajectories to be highlighted in regard to gender as well as the respective cultural and educational backgrounds of the participants.

Biography :

Email: gregory.dessart@unil.ch