The 3 C's of anthropomorphism: Connection, comprehension, and competition

Abstract

Anthropomorphism, or imbuing nonhuman entities with human traits, is widely prevalent in the marketplace. The last decade of consumer research demonstrates that when imbued with human characteristics, anthropomorphized brands and products become active participants in the consumption experience and are viewed and treated fundamentally differently than those viewed simply as objects. We identify three dimensions around how consumers relate to anthropomorphized entities: connection, comprehension, and competition. The first two C's highlight how anthropomorphized brands and products benefit consumers by fulfilling belongingness needs (connection) and helping consumers understand unfamiliar situations and products (comprehension). In contrast, the competition dimension highlights how anthropomorphized brands and products are perceived as adversaries or potential threats to consumers’ individual goals. By identifying competition as the third C, we illuminate self‐protection as an additional motivation that shapes consumers’ responses to anthropomorphized entities—a motivation that has not been directly accounted for in previous theorizing.

Behavioral Segmentation of Baby Food Consumers: Risk Areas, Possible Solutions. The Case of Ukraine

“…Dehumanizing aspects are manifested in the exploitation of psychological phenomena that promise successful sales, for example, gamification (engaging the consumer in the game form of interaction with business companies) (Eisingerich et al, 2019;Kleszczyński, 2019;Becker and Jaakkola, 2020), consumer relations with the brand as a person (Schmitt 2013), anthropomorphizing, pairing people with products (Allenby et al, 2002;Géczy et al, 2007;Hart and Royne, 2017;Heerah et al, 2017;Herak et al, 2020;Yang et al, 2020) etc. The subject of meticulous attention is the phenomenon of consumer behavioral selfcontrol, rational conscious refusal from the tempt to make unnecessary purchases (Birkhead, 2001;Shah, 2008;Bearden and Kelly, 2012;Abdullah et al, 2012;Nguyen and Paswan, 2013).…”

Psychological distance in consumer psychology: Consequences and antecedents

“…For firms, social distance emerges as the most relevant dimension of psychological distance in navigating their relationship with their customers—both current customers and future customers. As reviewed elsewhere (Yang, Aggarwal, & McGill, ), the phenomenon of anthropomorphism attests to the capability of consumers to treat firms like other people. Just as other people can be seen, by a particular consumer, as psychologically close to the self or psychologically distant from the self, so too can firms and brands be situated along a similar continuum of social distance relative to an individual consumer.…”

Grammatical Gender and Anthropomorphism: “It” Depends on the Language

“…Anthropomorphism can also be induced through product design (e.g., torso-shaped perfume bottle of Le Male Jean-Paul Gaultier and the humanlike face of the LG Hub Robot). Numerous studies have provided empirical evidence of the benefits of consumer anthropomorphism (Yang et al 2020). Inducing anthropomorphism by altering the appearance of a product (e.g., a smiling car grille or hands of a clock) increases product liking (Aggarwal and McGill 2007;Labroo, Dhar, and Schwarz 2008).…”

“…Priming anthropomorphic cues increases consumers' intentions to hold on to (rather than replace) their current products (Chandler and Schwarz 2010) and their intentions to contribute to prosocial causes like environmental conservation (Ahn, Kim, and Aggarwal 2014;Tam, Lee, and Chao 2013). Although the mechanisms for each effect may differ slightly, and there are potential downsides to product anthropomorphism, the general mechanism is that encouraging the view of products as human allows for deeper connections between consumers and their products, which has positive effects on marketing outcomes (for a review, see Yang et al 2020).…”

“…Although a number of frameworks for why people anthropomorphize have been offered (cf. Guthrie 1993;Yang et al 2020), for our purposes, we focus on the three-factor model articulated by Epley, Waytz, and Cacioppo (2007). They propose three determinants of anthropomorphism, two of which are motivational, and the other one cognitive.…”