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anthropomorphism
You assign human traits to inanimate geometry.
In a 1944 study, viewers who watched an animation of shapes moving around a box almost universally described the shapes as having distinct, anthropomorphic personalities.
Your brain is hardwired to find agency and intention in motion. You cannot stop yourself from attributing motivations, such as aggression or fear, to objects that have none.
You are desperate to find a story in the chaos.
Where this comes from
- Study
- Heider and Simmel, 1944, The American Journal of Psychology
- What the check found
- The 1944 study by Heider and Simmel is a classic in psychology, and 33 of their 34 subjects attributed intent to the shapes, supporting the 'almost universal' claim.
- Confidence
- Well replicated
Related
One of these every day, and every one names the study it came from. When a finding is contested, it says so.