Kühne, RinaldoPeter, JochenJong, Chiara deBarco, Alex2025-03-132025-03-132024-07Kühne, R., Peter, J., de Jong, C., & Barco, A. (2024). How Does Children’s Anthropomorphism of a Social Robot Develop Over Time? A Six-Wave Panel Study. International Journal of Social Robotics, 16(7), 1665-1679. https://doi.org/10.1007/S12369-024-01155-91875-479110.1007/S12369-024-01155-9http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14454/2524Research on children’s anthropomorphism of social robots is mostly cross-sectional and based on a single measurement. However, because social robots are new type of technology with which children have little experience, children’s initial responses to social robots may be biased by a novelty effect. Accordingly, a single measurement of anthropomorphism may not accurately reflect how children anthropomorphize social robots over time. Thus, we used data from a six-wave panel study to investigate longitudinal changes in 8- to 9-year-old children’s anthropomorphism of a social robot. Latent class growth analyses revealed that anthropomorphism peaked after the first interaction with the social robot, remained stable for a brief period of time, and then decreased. Moreover, two distinct longitudinal trajectories of anthropomorphism could be identified: one with moderate to high anthropomorphism and one with low to moderate anthropomorphism. Previous media exposure to non-fictional robots increased the probability that children experienced higher levels of anthropomorphism.eng© The Author(s) 2024Child-robot interactionHuman-machine communicationHuman-robot interactionRoboticsTechnologyjournal article2025-03-131875-4805