Thesis (M.A.)--University of the Witwatersrand, Arts Faculty (Industrial Psychology), 1997 / The paper set out to define anthropocentrism and anthropomorphism with respect to computers as well as creating valid and reliable scales to measure these constructs. It also explored these constructs' relationship with attitudes towards computers and began to explore possible predictors of anthropocentrism and anthropomorphism. Anthropocentrism with respect to computers was defined as a motive or value in which people perceive humanity to be the most significant of all entities and in which computers are seen as valuable to the extent that they are able to maintain or enhance the quality of life of humans or provide benefits to them. Anthropomorphism with respect to computers was defined as the extent to which people believe that computers have the same capabilities and characteristics that humans have. As hypothesised. anthropocentrism. anthropomorphism and attitudes towards computers were found to be negatively related but distinct constructs. Anthropocentrism was found to be positively related to attitudes towards computers and anthropomorphism was inversely related to attitudes towards computers. Exploratory studies found that predictors of anthropocentrism included gender. and predictors of anthropomorphism included gender. culture. and experience with computers. / AC 2016

Trata-se de uma pesquisa de natureza básica, de estrutura transversal e de desenho quasi-experimental cujo objeto foi o conceito Deus em uma amostra de crianças de três confissões cristãs. Objetivou-se explorar se o uso deste conceito é consistente com a doutrina teológica por elas professas ou se se incorre em uma antropomorfização não intencional. Ainda, é explorada a relação entre o uso de imagens e adornos religiosos e distintos níveis de antropomorfização. Esses objetivos foram exploramos através da formulação e testagem de nove hipóteses. Foi constituída uma amostra de conveniência composta por noventa participantes. Essa amostra foi dividida em quatro grupos de interesse: no primeiro houve uma distribuição equitativa (n=30) quanto às confissões religiosas (Catolicismo Romano, Espiritismo Kardecista e Assembleia de Deus); três grupos quanto à idade, variando de 9 a 11 anos (M=10.31, DP=0.80); dois quanto ao gênero, sendo que quarenta e três respondentes eram do sexo masculino (47%) e; dois grupos quanto ao tipo de escola, sendo que cinquenta e três participantes pertenciam à escola particular (58%). Foram utilizados como instrumental de pesquisa uma tarefa de compreensão de narrativa, um questionário de exposição às imagens religiosas e um questionário sobre as características de Deus para testar as hipóteses aventadas. Esses instrumentos passaram por sistemática tradução e adaptação cultural, além de haver sido calculado o índice de validade de conteúdo, de maneira a averiguar sua exatidão semântica para o uso tanto no contexto brasileiro quanto para a população-alvo. Como resultado, o instrumento mostrou-se adequado para uso. Também encontramos que os participantes usuários de imagens religiosas, majoritariamente os católicos e espíritas, sustentam maiores níveis de antropomorfismo religioso em seus conceitos teológicos, conforme aferido pelo Questionário de Deus. No entanto, o grupo que apresentou maiores níveis de antropomorfismo na tarefa de compreensão de narrativa foi o evangélico. Face a este dado aparentemente contraditório, discutimos possíveis - 9 relações entre a dinâmica do mercado religioso brasileiro, contextualizando o uso da imagem religiosa, e a representação mental do conceito Deus para essa amostra. Os resultados também sugerem que, para os quatro grupos de interesse, o antropomorfismo religioso atua mais intensamente em crianças do que em adultos na a tarefa de compreensão de narrativas, em que são utilizados conceitos básicos. Quanto ao uso dos conceitos teológicos, os grupos de interesse também apresentaram uma leve rejeição ao antropomorfismo religioso. Sugere-se que para o conceito Deus existam múltiplos níveis de representação, sendo que o contexto e a tarefa influem sobre a representação a ser empregada, variando entre conceitos básicos e teológicos em um certo continuum. Ainda, face aos resultados encontrados e amparados pela visão teórica dos conceitos, apresenta-se uma possível explicação fundada na mudança conceitual sobre como os usos do conceito Deus podem mudar ao longo do desenvolvimento, de maneira a afetar toda uma rede relacional teórica-explicativa / This basic, transversal, quasi-experimental research has as object Gods concept in a children sample of different Christian beliefs. We aimed to explore if the use of this concept is coherent with their professed theology or if they unintentionally anthropomorphize this agent. Also, we explore how religious images and objects relate to distinct levels of anthropomorphization. We explored these objectives through nine hypotheses. We had a convenience sample of ninety individuals. Such sample was divided in four groups: the first one was equally distributed in three religious groups (n=30) (Roman Catholics, Assembly of God and Kardecism Spiritism); the second one divided in three groups related to age, varying from 9 to 11 (M=10.31, DP=0.80); third group divided in two related to gender, being fourty-three males (47%) and finally; the fourth group related to type of school, being fifty-three participants studying in private school (58%). We used three psychologic instruments in our research: a narrative comprehension task, a survey of exposure to religious images and a survey of characteristics of God. These instruments were translated and culturally adapted for scientific usage, we also calculated the content validity index, to be sure about its semantic validity both for the Brazilian context and for the target-population. Thus, we found that the image users, mostly Catholics and Spirits, hold greater levels of religious anthropomorphism in their theological concepts, as we can measure through the Gods Survey Questionnaire. The group that showed greater levels of anthropomorphism in the narrative comprehension task was the evangelic. On that, we present some possible relations between the dynamics of Brazilian religious market, specially related to religious image usage, and God´s mental representation related to this sample. Also, as a result, our sample suggest that, for the four groups created, religious anthropomorphism is more intense in children in a narrative comprehension task than in adults. On the theological concepts, the groups also revealed tiny rejection to religious anthropomorphism, but when analyzed all items, we could notice certain heterogeneity in the attribution of anthropomorphism for this agent, varying from a lot - 11 to little, when compared to an adult sample, whose rejection was absolute. These results suggest, in conformity with theory theory of concepts, that God´s concepts go through conceptual change throughout the human development, affecting all theoretical-explicative conceptual network

Ce travail propose de lire un moment de l’histoire littéraire française à travers le prisme de l’animal, et plus particulièrement de ses représentations anthropomorphes. À partir de la littérature et de la pensée du xixe siècle, il s’agit de complexifier une définition restrictive de la notion d’anthropomorphisme en réfléchissant au statut de l’animal dans l’imaginaire romantique. L’anthropomorphisme est traditionnellement considéré comme une perception du monde naïve et spontanée et cette tendance à douer les choses et les êtres d’émotions, d’intentions ou de réactions supposées propres aux hommes repose sur un raisonnement analogique qui est à l’origine de genres littéraires aussi universels que la fable ou d’autres types d’apologues, qui héritent de ce préjugé de simplicité : l’anthropomorphisme serait ce mode de représentation non réaliste, divertissant voire comique, qui n’instruit qu’au prix d’une distorsion de la réalité. Au xixe siècle émerge une nouvelle conception de l’animal, en rupture avec celle de l’âge classique. L’histoire naturelle et la pensée romantique découvrent des parentés profondes entre l’homme et l’animal, qui donnent à l’anthropomorphisme un fondement épistémologique et philosophique, mais aussi affectif et politique, puisque l’idée d’une continuité entre les vivants est l’un des piliers de l’argumentation républicaine en faveur de la protection, puis du droit des animaux, depuis la période révolutionnaire. À partir d’un corpus littéraire, philosophique et scientifique, et d’une attention à l’histoire des animaux, de leur statut et de leurs traitements, ce travail voudrait dresser un panorama des paradigmes analogiques par lesquels les hommes ont pensé leurs liens aux animaux dans la première moitié du xixe siècle. Cette période apparaîtra ainsi comme un moment important de la reconfiguration du symbolisme animal, qui invente une forme d’allégorie réaliste, conciliant souci de l’animal et confiance en l’analogie. / This work attempts to read a moment of French literary history through the lens of animals, and more specifically anthropomorphic representations of them. From the 19th literature and thought, it will put forward a less restrictive definition of the notion of anthropomorphism by considering the status of animals in the romantic imaginary. Anthropomorphism is traditionally perceived as a naïve and spontaneous perception of the world. This tendency to endow things and beings with emotions, intentions or reactions supposedly inherent to humans is based on an analogical thinking that underlies literary genres as universal as fables or other kinds of apologues, that are also seen as simple, as if anthropomorphism was only this non-realistic, entertaining and even comical, mode of representation, that educates only thanks to a distortion of reality. During the 19th century, a new conception of animals emerges, breaking with the classical era. Natural history and romantic philosophy discover deep similarities between men and animals, that provide anthropomorphism with an epistemological and philosophical basis, but also affective and political ones, since the idea of a continuity between the being is one of the pillars of republican thinking on animal protection and animal rights since the Revolution. Looking at literary, philosophical and scientific texts, but also at the history of animals, at their status and treatments, this work would like to provide an overview of analogical paradigms through which men have conceived their relationships with animals over the first half of the 19th century. This period will therefore appear as an important moment of the reconfiguration of animal symbolism, inventing a type of realistic allegory, combining the concern for animals and a faith in analogical thinking.

A literatura infantil contemporânea abarca diferentes mecanismos de apresentação com a intenção de atingir o universo do leitor. Deste modo, crianças não alfabetizadas ou em fase inicial de alfabetização podem ter o prazer da leitura alcançado com ou sem o auxílio de um adulto. São dois os caminhos de funcionalidade o entretenimento e a educação, que não podem se dissociar, visto que a literatura infantil no formato que conhecemos hoje não consegue entreter sem transformar educacionalmente o indivíduo, em alguma medida. Por ser um material historicamente vinculado com a alfabetização, o livro infantil está presente com frequência na sala de aula e no cotidiano das crianças. Levando em conta o caráter formador do livro, esta pesquisa analisa obras de literatura infantil baseando-se na investigação da representação figurativa e temática dada aos personagens animais das histórias, com o objetivo de explorar seu potencial para o ensino de ciências. Para determinar a metodologia de análise nos apoiamos no referencial fornecido pelo percurso gerativo do sentido da semiótica greimasiana na perspectiva da linguagem. As personagens animais escolhidas para este estudo foram galinhas e joaninhas encontrados em seis livros disponíveis em bibliotecas e salas de leituras de escolas públicas da rede municipal de Guarulhos/SP. Para ampliar o enfoque e, ao mesmo tempo, como resultado de nossas análises, discutimos algumas experiências de intervenções aplicadas em salas de aula elaboradas dentro do Projeto JOANINHA Jogar, Observar, Aprender, Narrar: Investigando Natureza, História e Arte na pré-escola realizado na mesma rede municipal de ensino em que os livros foram coletados. As intervenções foram realizadas em duas turmas de crianças em fase de alfabetização com idade entre 5 e 7 anos, e organizadas pelo grupo de pesquisa Interfaces do qual este trabalho faz parte. Os resultados alcançados apontam que o livro infantil traz consigo figuras e temas sobre as personagens animais que carregam valores historicamente produzidos pela sociedade e refletem na formação leitora da criança. Tais figurativizações são predominantes em detrimento de outras e, por isso, permitem a articulação com os temas relacionados aos fenômenos científicos. Ao mesmo tempo, mascaram determinadas características e comportamentos destes animais e de nossas relações com eles, e, assim, necessitam do olhar atento ao levar o livro para o âmbito da educação em Ciências. / Contemporary children\'s literature includes different presentation mechanisms with the intention of reaching the universe of the reader, therefore, illiterate children or early literacy phase may have the pleasure of reading achieved with or without help of an adult. There are two useful paths, entertainment and education, which can not be dissociated since children\'s literature in the form we know today do not get to entertain without educationally turning a bit the individual. As it is a material historically linked with literacy, the children\'s book is often present in the classroom and daily life of child. Taking account the former character of the book, this research analyzes children\'s literature based on the investigation of figurative and thematic representation given to the animal characters of the stories in order to explore their potential for science teaching. To determine the analytical methodology we support the framework provided by generative trajectory of the greimasian semiotics from the perspective of language. Animal characters chosen for this study were chickens and ladybugs found in six books available in libraries and reading rooms of municipal public schools from Guarulhos / São Paulo. To extend and at the same time as a result of our analyzes, we discuss some interventions experiences applied in classrooms elaborates within JOANINHA Project Play, Observe, Learn, Narrate: Investigating Nature, History and Art in Preschool accomplished in the same municipal schools where the books were collected. The interventions were conducted in two groups of children in literacy stage aged 5 and 7 years, and organizes by Interfaces research group wich this paper is part. The results achieved indicate that children\'s book brings figures and themes about animal characters has values historically produced by society and it reflect the children\'s learning. These figurative ideas are predominate when compared the others, that\'s why it allows articulation with the themes related to scientific phenomena. At the same time, they mask certain characteristics and behaviors of the animals and our relationships with them, thus, they require the watchful eye to take the book to the realm of science education.

This work is presented in defence of the thesis that it is possible to measure the social expectations and perceptions that humans have of robots in an explicit and succinct manner, and these measures are related to how humans interact with, and evaluate, these robots. There are many ways of understanding how humans may respond to, or reason about, robots as social actors, but the approach that was adopted within this body of work was one which focused on interaction-specific expectations, rather than expectations regarding the true nature of the robot. These expectations were investigated using a questionnaire-based tool, the University of Hertfordshire Social Roles Questionnaire, which was developed as part of the work presented in this thesis and tested on a sample of 400 visitors to an exhibition in the Science Gallery in Dublin. This study suggested that responses to this questionnaire loaded on two main dimensions, one which related to the degree of social equality the participants expected the interactions with the robots to have, and the other was related to the degree of control they expected to exert upon the robots within the interaction. A single item, related to pet-like interactions, loaded on both and was considered a separate, third dimension. This questionnaire was deployed as part of a proxemics study, which found that the degree to which participants accepted particular proxemics behaviours was correlated with initial social expectations of the robot. If participants expected the robot to be more of a social equal, then the participants preferred the robot to approach from the front, while participants who viewed the robot more as a tool preferred it to approach from a less obtrusive angle. The questionnaire was also deployed in two long-term studies. In the first study, which involved one interaction a week over a period of two months, participant social expectations of the robots prior to the beginning of the study, not only impacted how participants evaluated open-ended interactions with the robots throughout the two-month period, but also how they collaborated with the robots in task-oriented interactions as well. In the second study, participants interacted with the robots twice a week over a period of 6 weeks. This study replicated the findings of the previous study, in that initial expectations impacted evaluations of interactions throughout the long-term study. In addition, this study used the questionnaire to measure post-interaction perceptions of the robots in terms of social expectations. The results from these suggest that while initial social expectations of robots impact how participants evaluate the robots in terms of interactional outcomes, social perceptions of robots are more closely related to the social/affective experience of the interaction.

This essay is a narratological analysis of Stephen King’s ​The Shining, ​and​ ​employs Mieke Bal’s categorization of focalization, description and discourse with the intent of establishing their function in representing the concept of the uncanny in the narrative. By analyzing these narratological functions and their interplay, several manifestations of the ordinarily elusive uncanny become evident. The novel, through the structuring of the narrative and use of forthright descriptions as well as the insight into the characters’ minds, continually manages to represent the disturbances of the familiar that characterize the uncanny.

Twitter has over 313 million users, with 500 million tweets produced each day. Society’s growing dependence on the internet for self-expression shows no sign of abating. However, recent research warns that social media perpetuates loneliness, caused by reduced face-to-face interaction. My thesis analyzes and demonstrates the important role facial expressions play in a conversation’s progress, impacting how people process and relate to what is being said. My work critically assesses communication problems associated with Twitter. By isolating and documenting expressive facial reactions to a curated selection of tweets, the exhibition creates a commentary on our contemporary digital existence, specifically articulating how use of social media limits basic social interaction.

This paper used the constant comparative method to examine the 12 animated features released by Disney between 2000 and 2010 for: (1) their representation of nonhuman animals (NHAs) and the portrayal of race, class, gender, and speciesism within this representation, (2) the ways they describe the relationship between humans and NHAs, and (3) whether they promote an animal rights perspective. Three major themes were identified: NHAs as stereotypes, family, and human/NHA dichotomy. Analysis of these themes revealed that Disney’s animated features promote speciesism and celebrate humanity’s superiority by justifying the subordination of NHAs to human agency. Furthermore, while Disney’s representation of NHAs remains largely anthropocentric, most of its animated features do not reflect the tenets of animal rights.

Bears and wolves are large mammalian predators who fill similar biological niches and have acquired similar cultural significance throughout Western history. Although superficial similarities exist between them in Charles G. D. Roberts's short animal stories, Roberts uses anthropomorphism to differentiate between these two species. This thesis uses a historical-cultural approach to provide the context for determining what was known or believed about these animals during Roberts's life and what contemporaneous theories were likely to have influenced Roberts's writing. The present literary analysis of bears and wolves in Roberts's stories shows that the species are primarily differentiated through the degree of anthropomorphism attributed to their individual members. Roberts anthropomorphizes bears more than his other species, and this contributes to the bears representation of the positive potential of animality. By contrast, Roberts minimizes anthropomorphization of wolves, who represent the negative potential of animality. In Roberts's work, humans who live in the wilderness must become either bear-like or wolf-like. Those who embrace bears positive animal potential are those who belong in the natural world, while those who practice the wolves' negative animal potential are denied a place in the natural order. Humans ultimately prove themselves to be superior animals through their use of technology, but must also demonstrate positive qualities, such as morality, in order to show that they belong in nature. Roberts's binary of animality speaks to a conflict that continues today, between the desire to accept the animality that is part of human nature and simultaneously to deny the baser aspects of that animality.

Bears and wolves are large mammalian predators who fill similar biological niches and have acquired similar cultural significance throughout Western history. Although superficial similarities exist between them in Charles G. D. Roberts's short animal stories, Roberts uses anthropomorphism to differentiate between these two species. This thesis uses a historical-cultural approach to provide the context for determining what was known or believed about these animals during Roberts's life and what contemporaneous theories were likely to have influenced Roberts's writing. The present literary analysis of bears and wolves in Roberts's stories shows that the species are primarily differentiated through the degree of anthropomorphism attributed to their individual members. Roberts anthropomorphizes bears more than his other species, and this contributes to the bears representation of the positive potential of animality. By contrast, Roberts minimizes anthropomorphization of wolves, who represent the negative potential of animality. In Roberts's work, humans who live in the wilderness must become either bear-like or wolf-like. Those who embrace bears positive animal potential are those who belong in the natural world, while those who practice the wolves' negative animal potential are denied a place in the natural order. Humans ultimately prove themselves to be superior animals through their use of technology, but must also demonstrate positive qualities, such as morality, in order to show that they belong in nature. Roberts's binary of animality speaks to a conflict that continues today, between the desire to accept the animality that is part of human nature and simultaneously to deny the baser aspects of that animality.