Developmental Changes in Number Personification by Elementary School Children

Abstract

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.

Keywords: development; elementary school children; ordinal linguistic personification; personification; synesthesia.

Figure 1

Mean consistency scores of number-color associations. (A) Frequency of consistency scores for all the child participants (N = 151). (B) Mean scores of 4th and 6th graders. Error bars denote s.e.m., whereas the red dotted line indicates chance level (= 0.77).

Figure 2

Mean consistency scores of number personification (63 fourth graders, 88 sixth graders, and 55 adults). The x axis shows ages (4th grade, 6th grade, and adults), whereas the y axis denotes the consistency score (maximum: 10 points; minimum: 0 points), averaged across the four personality factors (“gender,” “goodness,” “age,” “sociability”). The error bars denote s.e.m. and the red dotted line indicates chance level (= 2.22). Results of Shaffer's multiple comparisons for the age factor are summarized in^***p < 0.01, ^*p < 0.05, n.s. : p ≥ 0.05. (A) “gender,” (B) “goodness,” (C) “age,” (D) “sociability”.

Figure 3

Mean frequency of none answers in description of number personification (63 fourth graders, 88 sixth graders, and 55 adults). The x axis shows ages (fourth graders, sixth graders, and adults), while the y axis denotes the mean frequency of none (maximum 10 and minimum 0 points). The error bars denote s.e.m. and the red dotted line indicates chance level (= 3.33). Results of Shaffer's multiple comparison between age groups are summarized by black-colored symbols: ^***p < 0.01; ^*p < 0.05; and n.s. : p ≥ 0.05. The result of one-sample t-test with a chance level summarized by symbols underlined in blue: ^***p < 0.01; ^*p < 0.05; and n.s. : p ≥ 0.05. (A) “gender,” (B) “goodness,” (C) “age,” (D) “sociability”.

Figure 4

Mean number of personality descriptions (maximum: 10; minimum: 1) for the three age groups: 4th graders (N = 63), 6th graders (N = 89), and adults (N = 55). Error bars denote s.e.m. and the red dotted bar indicates an estimated chance level by computer simulation (= 6.41). The results of Shaffer's multiple comparison are summarized by the black symbols: ^***p < 0.01; ^*p < 0.05; and n.s. : p ≥ 0.05). The result of the one-sample t-test with the chance level is depicted by symbols underlined in blue: ^***p < 0.01 and n.s. : p ≥ 0.05.