Knowledge Bank

Anthropomorphism, the attribution of human characteristics to non-human entities, is common in children’s storybooks. Researchers have proposed that identification with storybook characters increases story comprehension through increased attention (Maslej et al., 2017). Thus, stories with anthropomorphized characters (e.g., animals) may negatively affect children’s learning (e.g., story comprehension; Kotaman & Balcı, 2019). In the current study, we analyzed the impact of storybook characters (animal versus human) on story comprehension. Specifically, we hypothesized that preschoolers’ story comprehension would be lower when characters were animals. Our 108 participants were between the ages of 4 and 5 years old (M = 5.00 years; SD = 0.58). These children were read a storybook that included either human characters, animal characters with human names (e.g., “Jasmine”), or animal characters with animal names (e.g., “fox”). They were asked a series of questions to measure their story comprehension. Children performed significantly better in the human characters story than in the story with animal characters with animal names. Interestingly, however, children preferred the animal characters over human characters. This study gives a clearer understanding of what characteristics of storybooks promote pre-readers’ comprehension and suggests that parents and educators may wish to monitor the characteristics of stories they read to children.