摘要:The purpose of the present study was to investigate the view that animism is a result of immature concepts of life. Two studies were conducted for this purpose Study I examined developmental trends in animistic thinking and Study II examined children`s knowledge of living things. The subjects of Study I were 10 males and 10 females at each level,6,8,11 and 14 years of age and university students,for a total of 100 subjects. The subjects of Study II were 9 boys and 9 girls at each age level,6,7 and 8 years of age and university students,for a total of 78 subjects. According to the results of study I and study II,animistic thinking decreased up to middle childhood but increased at later childhood and adulthood. The conception of living things was acquired at 7 years of age. All things considered,there was no evidence that animism is a result of immature concepts of life..