The role of object features and emotional attachment on preschool children?s anthropomorphism of owned objects

Anthropomorphism is the tendency to treat non-human items as if they were human. Children 3-5 years (N =139) were tested on their anthropomorphism of two favorite toys from home, with both explicit judgments (e.g., think, feel happy) and behavioral interactions (e.g., resource dis-tributions). Parents reported on their child's object attachments and anthropomorphizing be-haviors at home. Children anthropomorphized objects with faces more than those without. Parents also reported that children attached to a toy with a face engaged in more anthropo-morphism in their behaviors at home than those without. On the lab-based task battery, attachment status did not predict overall levels of anthropomorphism, although differences did emerge in the predicted direction on a small number of tasks, for both face and no-face attach-ment objects. The results of this exploratory study are discussed with regard to the diverse nature of anthropomorphism in childhood, and the role of context in eliciting this perspective.