Why We See Humanity in Everyday Things

Research and article done in collaboration with Isabella Kuo Introduction Why do we choose to assign a gender to our car? Why do we apologize when we bump into a piece of furniture? Why do we yell at our computer when it struggles to work? Why do we give names to our toys? Though talking…

Humanlike Objects and our Social Minds

Research and article done in collaboration with Isabella Kuo Why do we yell at our computer when it struggles to work? Why do some cars look like they’re smiling? Why does your guitar seem free-spirited? This is because of our innate human tendency for anthropomorphism: the ascription of humanlike characteristics, intentions or emotions in nonhuman…