Animism Begins at Forty: Evidence That Animism and Other Naïve Beliefs are Established Before the Onset of Old Age

Abstract

Animism (erroneously believing inanimate objects are alive) is present in older adults (McDonald & Stuart-Hamilton, 2000). However, it is unclear if animism arises in later life or middle age. The current study tested 34 middle-aged adults (mean age 48 years) on Piaget's animism task and found a significant level of animism. Strength of animism significantly correlated with need for cognition and fluid intelligence; but in a multiple regression analysis, only the need for cognition was a significant predictor. These findings are contrasted (using archival data) with a six-year longitudinal study of performance of 22 older adults (mean age 70 years). That study found no significant change in performance over time, and it also found need for cognition to be the best predictor. The implications of these findings are discussed.

Experiment 1 was conducted by Robert Parry under the supervision of Ian Stuart-Hamilton in partial fulfilment of obtaining a BSc at the University of Glamorgan.

Notes

**Significant at p < .01 (two-tailed).