• DOI:10.1521/SOCO.2008.26.2.143
• Corpus ID: 41946172

WHEN WE NEED A HUMAN: MOTIVATIONAL DETERMINANTS OF ANTHROPOMORPHISM

@article{Epley2008WHENWN,
  title={WHEN WE NEED A HUMAN: MOTIVATIONAL DETERMINANTS OF ANTHROPOMORPHISM},
  author={Nicholas Epley and Adam Waytz and Scott A. Akalis and John T. Cacioppo},
  journal={Social Cognition},
  year={2008},
  volume={26},
  pages={143-155}
}

• N. Epley, A. Waytz, +1 author J. Cacioppo
• Published 17 April 2008
• Psychology
• Social Cognition

We propose that the tendency to anthropomorphize nonhuman agents is determined primarily by three factors (Epley, Waytz, & Cacioppo, 2007), two of which we test here: sociality motivation and effectance motivation. This theory makes unique predictions about dispositional, situational, cultural, and developmental variability in anthropomorphism, and we test two predictions about dispositional and situational influences stemming from both of these motivations. In particular, we test whether those who are dispositionally lonely (sociality motivation) are more likely to anthropomorphize well–known pets (Study 1), and whether those who have a stable need for control (effectance motivation) are more likely to anthropomorphize apparently unpredictable animals (Study 2). Both studies are consistent with our predictions. We suggest that this theory of anthropomorphism can help to explain when people are likely to attribute humanlike traits to nonhuman agents, and provides insight into the inverse process of dehuma...