Growing Up Rich and Insecure Makes Objects Seem Human: Childhood Material and Social Environments Predict Anthropomorphism

Research tends to focus on why certain brands or products are anthropomorphized and the implications of anthropomorphism, leaving the psychological determinants of anthropomorphism largely unaddressed. We address this gap by examining whether important developmental factors, namely, childhood socioeconomic status and attachment styles, interact to predict consumers’ tendency to anthropomorphize.

Citation:

Jodie Whelan, Sean T. Hingston, Matthew Thomson, and Allison R. Johnson (2018) ,"Growing Up Rich and Insecure Makes Objects Seem Human: Childhood Material and Social Environments Predict Anthropomorphism", in NA - Advances in Consumer Research Volume 46, eds. Andrew Gershoff, Robert Kozinets, and Tiffany White, Duluth, MN : Association for Consumer Research, Pages: 849-850.