TY - JOUR
T1 - Who sees human? The stability and importance of individual differences in anthropomorphism
AU - Waytz, Adam
AU - Cacioppo, John
AU - Epley, Nicholas
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Ashley Angulo, Adrianna Guerrero, Mina Kang, Jasmine Kwong, Ye Li, Paul Thomas, Rebecca White, and Louise Hawkley for their assistance, and the Templeton Foundation and Booth School of Business for financial support.
PY - 2010/5
Y1 - 2010/5
N2 - Anthropomorphism is a far-reaching phenomenon that incorporates ideas from social psychology, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, and the neurosciences. Although commonly considered to be a relatively universal phenomenon with only limited importance in modern industrialized societies-more cute than critical-our research suggests precisely the opposite. In particular, we provide a measure of stable individual differences in anthropomorphism that predicts three important consequences for everyday life. This research demonstrates that individual differences in anthropomorphism predict the degree of moral care and concern afforded to an agent, the amount of responsibility and trust placed on an agent, and the extent to which an agent serves as a source of social influence on the self. These consequences have implications for disciplines outside of psychology including human-computer interaction, business (marketing and finance), and law. Concluding discussion addresses how understanding anthropomorphism not only informs the burgeoning study of nonpersons, but how it informs classic issues underlying person perception as well.
AB - Anthropomorphism is a far-reaching phenomenon that incorporates ideas from social psychology, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, and the neurosciences. Although commonly considered to be a relatively universal phenomenon with only limited importance in modern industrialized societies-more cute than critical-our research suggests precisely the opposite. In particular, we provide a measure of stable individual differences in anthropomorphism that predicts three important consequences for everyday life. This research demonstrates that individual differences in anthropomorphism predict the degree of moral care and concern afforded to an agent, the amount of responsibility and trust placed on an agent, and the extent to which an agent serves as a source of social influence on the self. These consequences have implications for disciplines outside of psychology including human-computer interaction, business (marketing and finance), and law. Concluding discussion addresses how understanding anthropomorphism not only informs the burgeoning study of nonpersons, but how it informs classic issues underlying person perception as well.
KW - Anthropomorphism
KW - Individual differences
KW - Social cognition
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77952888902&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=77952888902&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1745691610369336
DO - 10.1177/1745691610369336
M3 - Article
C2 - 24839457
AN - SCOPUS:77952888902
VL - 5
SP - 219
EP - 232
JO - Perspectives on Psychological Science
JF - Perspectives on Psychological Science
SN - 1745-6916
IS - 3
ER -