Anthropomorphism

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Contents 1 General 1.1 What is Anthropomorphism? 2 Personality 3 Situations 4 Affect 5 Cognition 6 Behavior 7 Theory 8 Who 9 Other Resources 9.1 What other resources on anthropomorphism exist?

General

What is Anthropomorphism?

Anthropomorphism is the process whereby humans attribute human quallities or human likeness to non-human objects.

Personality

Situations

It may be used as an ego defence mechanism to distort reality and protect the ego

Affect

Cognition

Behavior

Theory

Nicholas Epley, Adam Waytz, and John Cacioppo at University of Chicago have authored a theory paper entitled "On Seeing Human: A Three-Factor Theory of Anthropomorphism," in press at Psychological Review.

Who

Other Resources

What other resources on anthropomorphism exist?

There is a wonderful summary at this URL -> http://anthropomorphism.org/psychology2.html, including some wonderful Flash/Quicktime movies based on a classic experiment by Heider whereby simple shapes are given "human likeness" through their movements.