SOUL + BODY: Lonely People Anthropomorphize, Social Folks Dehumanize

When Nicholas Epley, Ph.D., assistant professor of the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business, conducted three experiments to determine how people deal with the effects of social isolation, he found three significant results: 1) the lonelier people felt, the more likely they were to describe gadgets (iPods or recliners, for instance) in human terms; 2) lonely people are more likely to believe in God, angels, or miracles; and 3) lonely people are more likely to describe their pets in positive human terms, such as “compassionate,” “thoughtful,” or “considerate.”
    Says Epley, “If we made people feel lonely, they were also more likely to describe a pet, even if it wasn’t their own pet, as having humanlike mental states that were related to social connection. Nonhuman connections can be very powerful.”
    Not surprisingly, he found that humanizing one’s iPod isn’t as beneficial as humanizing an animal or God.
    The study also provides an interesting insight on the flip side of anthropomorphism: dehumanization. People who enjoy a strong sense of social connection are less likely to perceive humanlike mental states in people who seem different from them. Classic examples occur during times of war, during which a strong sense of nationalism or group identity tends to emerge. “It may be that strong in-group identity is one of the things that facilitates dehumanizing the opposing side,” Epley said.

Laurie Pawlik-Kienlen