Object anthropomorphism: Walking a day in someone else’s wheels

March 12th, 2024

Written by: Omer Zeliger

Have you ever looked at the half-read and forgotten book on your coffee table and thought to yourself, it must be lonely over there so far from all its friends? If so, you’re certainly not alone. Assigning emotions and thoughts to non-living objects is known in psychology as anthropomorphism. Originally from the Greek words “human” and “form”, anthropomorphism involves attributing human-like characteristics to inanimate objects, like “hungry fires” or “calm waters”¹. Movies like Toy Story and Cars take anthropomorphism to the extreme, giving cars and toys thoughts, personalities, and goals^2,3.

            The last 15 years have been busy for anthropomorphism research. Theories about why humans anthropomorphize objects range from making us better at using tools⁴ to fighting loneliness⁵. What’s going on in the brain when we anthropomorphize is still a mystery, but there’s some evidence that it has to do with parts of the brain involved with emotional cognition. People with damage to a specific brain region associated with emotional processing are less likely to anthropomorphize⁶. Even the way we use language can play a role. People who speak gendered languages like French, where objects are referred to as “he” or “she” instead of “it,” are more likely to anthropomorphize than people who speak English⁷. Researchers believe that people who tend to anthropomorphize might also feel more attached to their belongings, which can contribute to hoarding disorders^8-10.

            Much more recently, in the last five years, scientists have been investigating a potential link between anthropomorphism and autism^11-13. Around 1 in 100 people globally are diagnosed with autism¹⁴. Though autism can present vastly differently in different people, some common characteristics are differences in social communication, delayed language development, sensitivity to loud noises, and repetitive movements known as stimming^15-17. Autistic people tend to perform worse on tests of theory of mind (the ability to guess what other people think, feel, and know)^18,19. It stands to reason, then, that anthropomorphism should be a lot less common in Autistic people. Research has found the exact opposite.

            In 2019, a research group found the first potential link suggesting that Autistic people may actually be more likely to anthropomorphize inanimate objects¹¹. Inspired by Autistic students’ positive reactions to the paper, scientists from Dr. Lucy Livingston’s lab at the University of Bath decided to look closer¹³. It has already been shown that girls are more likely to anthropomorphize than boys and young people more than older adults²⁰. Keeping this in mind, Dr. Livingston’s lab asked how age and gender might interact with autism to shape anthropomorphizing. They launched a large-scale online survey consisting of two main parts. First, they tested for autistic traits using a standardized test called the Autism-Spectrum Quotient-10. Second, survey-takers filled out an Anthropomorphism Questionnaire, rating their agreement with statements like “When I was a child I always made sure my favourite toy was comfortable (e.g. sitting up or tucked into bed) when I left the room.” Hundreds of people responded.

            According to the survey, women tended to have stronger anthropomorphizing tendencies than men, while men tended to have more autistic traits than women (men and boys are more likely to be diagnosed with autism than women and girls²¹, but there is mounting evidence that women and girls are underdiagnosed²²). You might expect from these results that higher autism scores mean less anthropomorphizing. After all, men are more likely to have both high autism scores and low anthropomorphizing scores. Instead, the researchers confirmed that adults with more autistic traits also tended to have more anthropomorphic tendencies, even when taking gender differences into account. On the other hand, there was no relationship between autism score and childhood anthropomorphizing. That is to say, Autistic adults but not children are more likely to anthropomorphize.

            How do you reconcile this with Autistic people’s lower theory of mind scores? It seems odd that people who have a harder time guessing what others are thinking would be more likely to speculate about what inanimate objects are “feeling”. The researchers have a guess: you don’t actually need theory of mind for anthropomorphism. Theory of mind measures how accurately someone can guess what another person is thinking. When anthropomorphizing, it doesn’t matter how accurately you can guess what a spoon is thinking, since the spoon isn’t actually thinking at all. The Anthropomorphism Questionnaire doesn’t care how accurately you guess the spoon’s emotions; it just wants to know how often you ask the question. Other research backs up the idea that anthropomorphizing and theory of mind are two unrelated skills; people who anthropomorphize more don’t score any better on theory of mind tests²³. In fact, Dr. Livingston’s lab speculates it could be the other way around: Autistic people might anthropomorphize more in order to practice their social skills¹³.

            This is still a new area of research, and there’s still a lot to learn. For one, we don’t know whether anthropomorphizing is linked to specific autistic traits. While we’re waiting to learn more, remember: even though the dishes in the sink have enjoyed their bath, they’d love to get back home to their friends now.

References

1. Oxford English Dictionary. (n.d.). OED.com dictionary. Retrieved March 3, 2024, from https://www.oed.com/dictionary/anthropomorphous_adj?tab=etymology#2129607
2. Toy Story [Film]. Pixar. Lasseter, J. (Director). (1995).
3. Cars [Film]. Pixar. Lasseter, J. (Director). (2006).
4. Haslam M. (2023). Anthropomorphism as a contributor to the success of human (Homo sapiens) tool use. Journal of comparative psychology (Washington, D.C.: 1983), 137(3), 200–208. 
5. Kwok, C., Grisham, J. R., & Norberg, M. M. (2018). Object attachment: Humanness increases sentimental and instrumental values. Journal of behavioral addictions, 7(4), 1132–1142. 
6. Waytz, A., Cacioppo, J. T., Hurlemann, R., Castelli, F., Adolphs, R., & Paul, L. K. (2019). Anthropomorphizing without Social Cues Requires the Basolateral Amygdala. Journal of cognitive neuroscience, 31(4), 482–496. 
7. Mecit, A., Lowrey, T. M., & Shrum, L. J. (2022). Grammatical gender and anthropomorphism: “It” depends on the language. Journal of personality and social psychology, 123(3), 503–517. 
8. Burgess, A. M., Graves, L. M., & Frost, R. O. (2018). My possessions need me: Anthropomorphism and hoarding. Scandinavian journal of psychology, 59(3), 340–348.
9. Liu, X., Cai, Y., Tao, Y., Hou, W., Niu, H., Liu, X., Xie, T., & Li, Y. (2023). Association between attachment and hoarding behavior: Mediation of anthropomorphism and moderation of hoarding beliefs among Chinese adolescents. PsyCh journal, 12(1), 128–136.
10. Kwok, C., Grisham, J. R., & Norberg, M. M. (2018). Object attachment: Humanness increases sentimental and instrumental values. Journal of behavioral addictions, 7(4), 1132–1142. 
11. White, R. C., & Remington, A. (2019). Object personification in autism: This paper will be very sad if you don’t read it. Autism: the international journal of research and practice, 23(4), 1042–1045. 
12. Negri, O., White, R. C., & Remington, A. (2019). A Friendly Article: The Qualitative Investigation of Anthropomorphism in Autistic and Nonautistic Adults. Autism in adulthood: challenges and management, 1(4), 286–296. 
13. Clutterbuck, R. A., Shah, P., Leung, H. S., Callan, M. J., Gjersoe, N., & Livingston, L. A. (2022). Anthropomorphic tendencies in autism: A conceptual replication and extension of White and Remington (2019) and preliminary development of a novel anthropomorphism measure. Autism: the international journal of research and practice, 26(4), 940–950. 
14. Zeidan, J., Fombonne, E., Scorah, J., Ibrahim, A., Durkin, M. S., Saxena, S., Yusuf, A., Shih, A., & Elsabbagh, M. (2022). Global prevalence of autism: A systematic review update. Autism research: official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 15(5), 778–790. 
15. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022, March 28). Signs and symptoms of autism spectrum disorders. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved March 3, 2024, from https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/autism/signs.html 
16. Kapp, S. K., Steward, R., Crane, L., Elliott, D., Elphick, C., Pellicano, E., & Russell, G. (2019). ‘People should be allowed to do what they like’: Autistic adults’ views and experiences of stimming. Autism: the international journal of research and practice, 23(7), 1782–1792. 
17. Autistic Self Advocacy Network. (2022, March 28). About autism. Autistic Self Advocacy Network. Retrieved March 3, 2024, from https://autisticadvocacy.org/about-asan/about-autism/
18. Livingston, L. A., Carr, B., & Shah, P. (2019). Recent Advances and New Directions in Measuring Theory of Mind in Autistic Adults. Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 49(4), 1738–1744. 
19. Apperly, I. A., & Butterfill, S. A. (2009). Do humans have two systems to track beliefs and belief-like states?. Psychological review, 116(4), 953–970. 
20. Neave, N., Jackson, R., Saxton, T., & Hönekopp, J. (2015). The influence of anthropomorphic tendencies on human hoarding behaviours. Personality and Individual Differences, 72, 214–219.
21. Loomes, R., Hull, L., & Mandy, W. P. L. (2017). What Is the Male-to-Female Ratio in Autism Spectrum Disorder? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 56(6), 466–474.
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23. Hortensius, R., Kent, M., Darda, K. M., Jastrzab, L., Koldewyn, K., Ramsey, R., & Cross, E. S. (2021). Exploring the relationship between anthropomorphism and theory-of-mind in brain and behaviour. Human brain mapping, 42(13), 4224–4241. 

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