運動図形に対する心的状態の付与に及ぼす図形の種類と運動パターンの効果

Abstract

This study investigated how people attribute mental states to moving figures. In the preliminary study, ten university students were presented a circle or a rabbit figure bouncing up and down on a computer screen at one of ten different speeds and were asked to rate its speed, naturalness, and whether it had a "mind" or not. It was found that presenting a moving figure at the rate of 45 frames per second is appropriate for this kind of research. It was also suggested that it is better to avoid using cartoon-like figures and adopt silhouette figures. In the main experiment, silhouette figures of a rabbit and a man as well as a black circle were used. Twenty-eight university students participated individually in the experiment. In each of nine trials, one of three black bouncing figures was presented on a computer screen in one of three conditions (physically predictable, psychologically predictable, and unpredictable movements), and the participants were asked to rate it on 14 items. A factor analysis was administered on these items, and three factors were extracted: "animacy", "regularity", and "activity". Analyses of variance revealed the main effects of types of figures and patterns of movement. The rabbit figure in particular tended to elicit the attribution of mental states to its movement.