On Seeing Human: A Three-Factor Theory of Anthropomorphism

@article{robot_anthropomorphism, abstract = {Anthropomorphism describes the tendency to imbue the real or imagined behavior of nonhuman agents with humanlike characteristics, motivations, intentions, or emotions. Although surprisingly common, anthropomorphism is not invariant. This article describes a theory to explain when people are likely to anthropomorphize and when they are not, focused on three psychological determinants--the accessibility and applicability of anthropocentric knowledge (elicited agent knowledge), the motivation to explain and understand the behavior of other agents (effectance motivation), and the desire for social contact and affiliation (sociality motivation). This theory predicts that people are more likely to anthropomorphize when anthropocentric knowledge is accessible and applicable, when motivated to be effective social agents, and when lacking a sense of social connection to other humans. These factors help to explain why anthropomorphism is so variable; organize diverse research; and offer testable predictions about dispositional, situational, developmental, and cultural influences on anthropomorphism. Discussion addresses extensions of this theory into the specific psychological processes underlying anthropomorphism, applications of this theory into robotics and human-computer interaction, and the insights offered by this theory into the inverse process of dehumanization.}, author = {Epley, Nicholas and Waytz, Adam and Cacioppo, John T. }, citeulike-article-id = {1947541}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.114.4.864}, journal = {Psychological Review}, keywords = {anthropomorphism}, month = {October}, number = {4}, pages = {864--886}, posted-at = {2008-06-29 18:09:26}, priority = {2}, title = {On Seeing Human: A Three-Factor Theory of Anthropomorphism}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.114.4.864}, volume = {114}, year = {2007} }

TY - JOUR ID - robot_anthropomorphism L3 - citeulike-article-id:1947541 TI - On Seeing Human: A Three-Factor Theory of Anthropomorphism JF - Psychological Review VL - 114 IS - 4 SP - 864 EP - 886 N2 - Anthropomorphism describes the tendency to imbue the real or imagined behavior of nonhuman agents with humanlike characteristics, motivations, intentions, or emotions. Although surprisingly common, anthropomorphism is not invariant. This article describes a theory to explain when people are likely to anthropomorphize and when they are not, focused on three psychological determinants--the accessibility and applicability of anthropocentric knowledge (elicited agent knowledge), the motivation to explain and understand the behavior of other agents (effectance motivation), and the desire for social contact and affiliation (sociality motivation). This theory predicts that people are more likely to anthropomorphize when anthropocentric knowledge is accessible and applicable, when motivated to be effective social agents, and when lacking a sense of social connection to other humans. These factors help to explain why anthropomorphism is so variable; organize diverse research; and offer testable predictions about dispositional, situational, developmental, and cultural influences on anthropomorphism. Discussion addresses extensions of this theory into the specific psychological processes underlying anthropomorphism, applications of this theory into robotics and human-computer interaction, and the insights offered by this theory into the inverse process of dehumanization. KW - anthropomorphism AU - Epley, Nicholas AU - Waytz, Adam AU - Cacioppo, John PY - 2007/10// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.114.4.864 ER -