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
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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“In summary, there appear to be at least three plausible contributors to religious disbelief: a lack of exposure to CREDs in the community while growing up, living under conditions of low existential threat, and a reliance on an analytic (vs. intuitive) cognitive style should all increase the likelihood of becoming a disbeliever.”
From The amoral atheist? A cross-national examination of cultural, motivational, and cognitive antecedents of disbelief, and their implications for morality (2021) · cites this paper as [33]
Citations
Cites
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Self-citationOn seeing human: A three-factor theory of anthropomorphism
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Sorted by citations
On seeing human: A three-factor theory of anthropomorphism
Epley, N., Waytz, A., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2007) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.114.4.864 · Cited by 4,069
Self-citationPerceived social isolation and cognition
Cacioppo, J. T., & Hawkley, L. C. (2009) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2009.06.005 · Cited by 2,144
Self-citationThe social motivation theory of autism
Chevallier, C., Kohls, G., Troiani, V., Brodkin, E. S., & Schultz, R. T. (2012) · Trends in Cognitive Sciences · doi:10.1016/j.tics.2012.02.007 · Cited by 2,072
Who Sees Human?: The Stability and Importance of Individual Differences in Anthropomorphism
Waytz, A., Cacioppo, J., & Epley, N. (2010) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691610369336 · Cited by 1,228
Self-citationBeyond beliefs: Religions bind individuals into moral communities
Graham, J., & Haidt, J. (2010) · Personality and Social Psychology Review · doi:10.1177/1088868309353415 · Cited by 842
Metadata
- Authors
- Epley, N., Akalis, S., Waytz, A., & Cacioppo, J. T.
- Affiliations
- University of Chicago
- Harvard University (US)
- University of Chicago (US)
- Venue
- Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2008-02
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 114-120
- ISSN
- 0956-7976 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-9280
- 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
- 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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