Abstract
Attitudes toward animals are influenced by childhood experiences with animals. One source of such experiences is provided by picture books. Because the representations of animals in picture books affect attitudes toward animals, it is important to examine how animals are depicted in picture books in order to improve human-animal interactions. Since dogs and cats are particularly familiar to children, it is easy for children to apply representations in picture books to real dogs and cats. This study quantitatively investigated how dogs and cats are depicted in picture books. Several elements were extracted from the pictures in the picture books and their state was recorded. The analysis included comparisons of depictions of dogs and cats, human presence and absence, and story settings in 2040 picture books that contained depictions of dogs or cats. The results revealed that dogs and cats were anthropomorphized or humanized much less often in picture books in which humans appeared than in those in which humans did not appear. Dogs were often drawn on the ground outside, and cats were often shown in elevated positions or indoors. For dogs, there were many depictions of walks, often in urban settings. In general, the analysis of the depictions suggests that children may feel boundary between human and dog/cat based on the picture books. The analysis of the walking scenes suggests that the reality of dogs may be conveyed to children. In addition, the analysis of the positions of dogs and cats suggests that traditional representation of them and their relationships with humans may be conveyed to children in such books.
Highlights
Childhood experiences with animals affect attitudes and behaviors toward animals, and the effects of these early experiences persist over time [1,2,3]
Even when dogs and cats were depicted as background characters, the distribution of depiction types depended on the presence or absence of humans, with the real type more common in picture books with humans, and the anthropomorphic type more common in those without humans
This study identified common representations of dogs and cats that can be found in picture books
Summary
Childhood experiences with animals affect attitudes and behaviors toward animals, and the effects of these early experiences persist over time [1,2,3]. Children are interested in animals from a very young age [4]. Children encounter and recognize animals in a variety of situations. These encounters can be both direct and indirect. Indirect examples include encounters through television and children's books. Indirect experiences occur through media that children are exposed to daily. This is especially true for picture books, which have a great influence on children. Urban children tend to lack direct experience with a variety of animals and have been found to be more susceptible to media such as picture books when acquiring knowledge and representations of animals [9]. Attempts to build better relationships between children and animals should not ignore the role of picture books
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