[en] Some people give a proper name to an owned individual object, such as a car or a computer.
The study examined whether giving a proper name to a specific object is associated with
object personification, and more specifically, whether object personification is a prerequisite
to name giving. The latter question was assessed by asking 130 participants whether, in their
adult life, they had ever given a personal name to an object, and if so, whether they had
attributed psychological characteristics to that named object. The general relationship between
personal name giving and personification was assessed by evaluating whether the scores from
a questionnaire on anthropomorphism differed in participants who reported having given a
specific name to at least one personal object, compared with those who reported not doing so
(Mann-Whitney test). Results showed that the scores from the questionnaire on
anthropomorphism were significantly higher in participants who had given specific names to
objects than in participants who had not done so. However, object personification was found
not to be a prerequisite to name giving. Indeed, about 40 percent of people who reported
giving personal names to objects did not attribute psychological qualities to these objects.
Research Center/Unit :
PsyNCog - Psychologie et Neuroscience Cognitives - ULiège
Disciplines :
Animal psychology, ethology & psychobiology
Author, co-author :
Brédart, Serge ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département de Psychologie > Psychologie cognitive
Language :
English
Title :
The influence of anthropomorphism on giving personal names to objects
