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Cited by 636Social Robot Interaction and HRIDeath Anxiety and Social ExclusionSocial and Intergroup Psychology

The DOI matches its Crossref record, with a small difference in title or year; 34 of the 34 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Creating Social Connection Through Inferential Reproduction: Loneliness and Perceived Agency in Gadgets, Gods, and Greyhounds

Epley, Nicholas, Akalis, Scott, Waytz, Adam, Cacioppo, John T.·2008·Psychological Science
DOI 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02056.x
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Abstract

People are motivated to maintain social connection with others, and those who lack social connection with other humans may try to compensate by creating a sense of human connection with nonhuman agents. This may occur in at least two ways—by anthropomorphizing nonhuman agents such as nonhuman animals and gadgets to make them appear more humanlike and by increasing belief in commonly anthropomorphized religious agents (such as God). Three studies support these hypotheses both among individuals who are chronically lonely (Study 1) and among those who are induced to feel lonely (Studies 2 and 3). Additional findings suggest that such results are not simply produced by any negative affective state (Study 3). These results have important implications not only for understanding when people are likely to treat nonhuman agents as humanlike (anthropomorphism), but also for understanding when people treat human agents as non-human (dehumanization).

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Crossref · 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02056.x

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34 of 34 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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Show all 34 references

Research works printed but not linked: 5

  1. Adler J., 2005, Newsweek, 146, 46
  2. Demme J. (Director), 1992, Silence of the lambs
  3. Pargament K., 1997, The psychology of religious coping
  4. Ward D.S., 1989, Major league
  5. Zemeckis R. (Director), 2000, Cast away

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Metadata

Authors
Epley, N., Akalis, S., Waytz, A., & Cacioppo, J. T.
Affiliations
  • University of Chicago
  • Harvard University (US)
  • University of Chicago (US)
ORCID
Venue
Psychological Science
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2008-02
Volume
19
Issue
2
Pages
114-120
ISSN
  • 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
  • 1467-9280
DOI
10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02056.x
OpenAlex
W2107278406
Cited by
632
References
34
Citations by year
2026: 38 · 2025: 41 · 2024: 46 · 2023: 29 · 2022: 44 · 2021: 54 · 2020: 44 · 2019: 27 · 2018: 52 · 2017: 30 · 2016: 31 · 2015: 37 · 2014: 39 · 2013: 29 · 2012: 24
FWCI
29.88
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
  • Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Robot Interaction and HRI
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
  • Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
Keywords
social connectedness, loneliness, anthropomorphism, dehumanization, religious beliefs, non-human actors, gadgets, animals, negative affect, social motivation
MeSH terms
Adult, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Loneliness, Male, Motivation, Object Attachment, Surveys and Questionnaires, Religion and Psychology, Social Behavior

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