My computer is more thoughtful than you: Loneliness, anthropomorphism and dehumanization

Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions and intentions to non-human entities. The inverse process of anthropomorphism is dehumanization in which individuals treat humans like animals or objects. Two studies were conducted to investigate whether there are relationships between loneliness, anthropomorphism, and dehumanization. Study 1 (N = 91) employed the UCLA loneliness scale in order to examine the extent to which subjective experiences of loneliness related to the tendency to describe nonhuman agents (i.e., animal, computer) with humanlike characteristics. Participants attributed more humanlike capacities to nonhuman agents with increasing levels of self-rated loneliness. Study 2 (N = 70) induced the emotion of loneliness using an experimental writing task and examined whether there were significant differences in anthropomorphism and dehumanization between the experimental condition of loneliness and the control condition. Results found participants tended to perceive nonhuman agents to be more humanlike in the condition of loneliness than in the control condition. In addition, there was a stronger tendency of dehumanization toward other humans in the condition of loneliness than in the control condition. This implies that anthropomorphism is related to sociality motivation, which is the need for social connection through establishing bonds with nonhumans, and may result in the dehumanization of other humans.