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Interesting study with bearing on furries?
12 years ago
From http://www.psmag.com/magazines/paci.....onomics-53135/
" [...] Studies show that Western urban children grow up so closed off in man-made environments that their brains never form a deep or complex connection to the natural world. While studying children from the U.S., researchers have suggested a developmental timeline for what is called “folkbiological reasoning.” These studies posit that it is not until children are around 7 years old that they stop projecting human qualities onto animals and begin to understand that humans are one animal among many. Compared to Yucatec Maya communities in Mexico, however, Western urban children appear to be developmentally delayed in this regard. Children who grow up constantly interacting with the natural world are much less likely to anthropomorphize other living things into late childhood.
Given that people living in WEIRD societies don’t routinely encounter or interact with animals other than humans or pets, it’s not surprising that they end up with a rather cartoonish understanding of the natural world. “Indeed,” the report concluded, “studying the cognitive development of folkbiology in urban children would seem the equivalent of studying ‘normal’ physical growth in malnourished children.”"
While anthromorphic stuff has a long and storied history, the specific form it tends to take in furdom - is it a consequence of most furries being from fairly industrialized nations and never interacting with the real, natural world? (One reason I'm glad Furry Weekend Atlanta works with Conservator's Center every year...)
" [...] Studies show that Western urban children grow up so closed off in man-made environments that their brains never form a deep or complex connection to the natural world. While studying children from the U.S., researchers have suggested a developmental timeline for what is called “folkbiological reasoning.” These studies posit that it is not until children are around 7 years old that they stop projecting human qualities onto animals and begin to understand that humans are one animal among many. Compared to Yucatec Maya communities in Mexico, however, Western urban children appear to be developmentally delayed in this regard. Children who grow up constantly interacting with the natural world are much less likely to anthropomorphize other living things into late childhood.
Given that people living in WEIRD societies don’t routinely encounter or interact with animals other than humans or pets, it’s not surprising that they end up with a rather cartoonish understanding of the natural world. “Indeed,” the report concluded, “studying the cognitive development of folkbiology in urban children would seem the equivalent of studying ‘normal’ physical growth in malnourished children.”"
While anthromorphic stuff has a long and storied history, the specific form it tends to take in furdom - is it a consequence of most furries being from fairly industrialized nations and never interacting with the real, natural world? (One reason I'm glad Furry Weekend Atlanta works with Conservator's Center every year...)
As far as the studies go, that's not surprising, and growing up around anthropomorphic icons and characters as kids in the 80s/90s couldn't have hurt much neither.
Civilization is a hell of a lifehack.