Object personification is the attribution of human characteristics to non-human agents. In online forums, autistic individuals commonly report experiencing this phenomenon. Given that approximately half of all autistic individuals experience difficulties identifying their own emotions, the suggestion that object personification may be a feature of autism seems almost paradoxical. Why would a person experience sympathy for objects, when they struggle to understand and verbalise the emotions of other people as well as their own? An online survey was used to assess tendency for personification in 87 autistic and 263 non-autistic adults. Together, our results indicate that object personification occurs commonly among autistic individuals, and perhaps more often (and later in life) than in the general population. Given that in many cases, autistic people report their personification experiences as distressing, it is important to consider the reasons for the increased personification and identify structures for support.
Object personification in autism: This paper will be very sad if you don’t read it – PubMed
In online forums, autistic individuals describe a special relationship with objects. They report, for example, that papers in a filing cabinet feel unloved or that the last crisp in a packet is lonely.! Savarese (2014) identified an ‘object-centred empathy’ in the literary contributions (e.g. novels, essays) of autistic writers and proposed that autistic individuals act like personifying poets. And yet, to the best of our knowledge, there have been no empirical studies investigating the first-hand experiences of object personification – the attribution of human-like qualities, such as gender, social and personality attributes to objects (Sobczak-Edmans and Sagiv, 2013) – in the everyday lives of autistic individuals. Specifically, we are interested in the spontaneous coupling of human-like qualities to everyday objects (e.g. furniture, gadgets and clothing), rather than cartoons or abstract two dimensional shapes (Castelli et al., 2002; Klin, 2000).
Together, our results indicate that object personification occurs commonly among autistic individuals, and perhaps more often (and later in life) than in the general population. Although initially counter-intuitive, we posit various explanations. Personification may reduce social disconnection in autism. Autistic individuals report greater loneliness and social isolation (Causton-Theoharis et al., 2009), and ascribing human-like qualities (e.g. free will) to non-human agents (e.g. alarm clocks, pillows) has been shown to reduce loneliness and promote social connection (Epley et al., 2008).
It may also be the case that personification is used to reduce uncertainty and thus alleviate anxiety in autism. Autistic individuals are often intolerant to uncertainty (Boulter et al., 2014), and experience considerable anxiety in unstructured environments. Ascribing human-like qualities to non-human agents has been shown to make these stimuli more predictable and understandable, thereby reducing uncertainty (Waytz, 2010). Indeed, personification may act as a bridge for autistic individuals.
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics to nonhuman agents. This common tendency is thought to be driven by a heightened motivation for social connection and may therefore be expected to be reduced in autistic individuals given that this group has been claimed to demonstrate reduced social motivation in some settings. However, the subject of anthropomorphism in autism has not been studied extensively, and online forums, autobiographical accounts, and recent research on the topic suggest that, contrary to this expectation, anthropomorphism is commonly experienced by autistic individuals.
Individuals in both groups described anthropomorphism as comforting, promoting a sense of safety and friendship with, and feelings of empathy and sympathy toward, nonhuman agents. Autistic individuals stressed the important role anthropomorphized agents played in their life, particularly when growing up: easing loneliness and helping develop an understanding of emotions and relationships. Participants also expressed negative aspects of the phenomenon, with both autistic and nonautistic individuals worrying about anthropomorphized agents’ feelings and well-being. For some individuals, such thoughts and feelings caused distress and were experienced as intrusive due to their involuntary nature.
Autistic individuals stressed the important role anthropomorphised items played in their life, particularly when growing up: reducing loneliness and helping them develop an understanding of emotions and relationships.
Ralph Savarese of Grinnell College advances the notion of a much less human-centered empathy by exploring the propensity in autism to attend to objects more than people (February 19, 2014). Focusing on the work of two autistic writers, Dawn Prince and Tito Mukhopadhyay, he investigates the trope of personification, appealing to neuroscientific investigations of the phenomenon in order to distinguish between a categorical and a precategorical engagement with experience.
I Object: Autism, Empathy, and the Trope of Personification – YouTube
Anthropomorphism-the attribution of human qualities to non-human objects-is believed to be a natural tendency which may serve several adaptive functions. One possibility is that anthropomorphism provides an egocentric heuristic by which we can understand the world. It may also be a strategy for reducing our subjective sense of loneliness. However, not all humans exhibit the same propensity to anthropomorphise. Recent findings suggest that autistic individuals may be more likely to anthropomorphise than non-autistic individuals. In Study 1, we conducted a large-scale survey of autistic traits and dispositional anthropomorphism in the general population (n = 870). We found that individuals who reported having more autistic traits had an increased dispositional tendency to anthropomorphise non-human entities. In Study 2, we more closely examined variation in anthropomorphism tendencies in a sample of autistic adults (n = 90) to better understand what might drive increased anthropomorphism in this population. We found that those with greater anthropomorphism tendencies experienced greater levels of self-reported loneliness. We propose that increased anthropomorphism might reflect reduced opportunities for social connection for autistic people and those with more autistic traits.
Divergent design should honor the unique relationships Autistic people have to objects.
Many of us identify with the items we love, and even feel a degree of empathy for them, as if they were alive. Psychologists call this phenomenon object personification, and Autistics exhibit it at an elevated rate compared to the neurotypical population. We also tend to connect emotionally with animals more readily than people, which can also influence how our home environments should be arranged. Autistic people frequently rely on beloved objects to provide consistency, familiarity, and emotional grounding.
Unmasking Autism: Discovering the New Faces of Neurodiversity (p. 169, 170)
Most of us have a favourite soft toy from childhood. A silent ally who over time becomes sidelined and left on a shelf. But for some adults they remain an essential presence never leaving the side of their owner.
Jamie’s coping strategies include eating the same meal every night – filled pasta with sauce – and having Lion at his side, no matter where he goes.
Carrying an object around brings some structure and consistency to his environment. The toy lion has a familiar texture and smell which helps in those moments when he feels “overloaded”.
Jamie and his Lion: The adults who take their soft toys to work – BBC News
Something Love
Cubbious (adj.) meaning ‘something love’
“My cat Rocco is cubbious. People can be cubbious too. Even objects like security blankets, books, my iPad etc. Things or people who are very special to me…Cubbious is the colour red and feels like love”.
Something Love is a series of films and still images that digs into the richness of autistic relationships with objects. Objects can be a channel to the rest of the world, and connect us to our bodies. Objects can look after us, and connect us to people and places. But mostly, they are themselves: objects have personalities all of their own.
Created for and with Autistic young people, Something Love is about the infinite joy of objects.
Something Love – Green Straw – YouTube
Something Love – Cubbious – YouTube
