article
An investigation of the thought of primitive children with special reference to animism
Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland • 62 • Published In 1932 • Pages: 173-190
By: Mead, Margaret.
Abstract
This paper is a brief preliminary report dealing with the problem of whether or not the thought of primitive children was characterized by '…animistic premise, anthropomorphic interpretation and faulty logic which had been recorded for civilized children' or was basically a process of the social environment. Forty-one Manus children served as subjects for this study and were observed by the author in their home settings, in play groups and at play within the author's own home. These observations were further supplemented by a collection of spontaneous drawings made by the children, by interpretations of ink-blots, and by stimuli in the form of questions introduced by the author which were designed to provoke animistic responses. The data collected by the above means, including the author's final analysis, comprise the remainder of the source. The field work for this project was undertaken among the Manus people during the winter of 1928-1929 where the author worked as a Fellow in the Social Science Research Council.
- HRAF PubDate
- 2005
- Region
- Oceania
- Sub Region
- Melanesia
- Document Type
- article
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- John Beierle ; 1964
- Field Date
- 1928-1929
- Coverage Date
- 1928-1929
- Coverage Place
- Village of Peri, Manus Province, Papua New Guinea
- Notes
- Margaret Mead
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 189-190)
- LCCN
- sf 80000548
- LCSH
- Manus (Papua New Guinea people)