Anthropomorphism
Attributing human traits to non-human entities.
Anthropomorphism is the ascribing of human personality, appearance, conduct, cognition, or other attributes to non-human entities, often including non-human animals. In fiction and folklore, it specifically endows non-human characters with human-like behaviors, speech, and facial expressions, with common examples including intelligent talking animals, talking trees, anthropomorphized food, and sentient toys. As a general human tendency, anthropomorphism is considered innate to human psychology, with ancient roots as a storytelling and artistic device found in most cultures.
- etymology
- Greek ánthrōpos (human) and morphē (form)
- related_concept
- Personification
- field
- Psychology, religion, mythology, literature
Lore & Background
Prehistoric cave paintings such as The Sorcerer from the Trois-Frères Cave in France also show anthropomorphic elements, though their significance remains unknown. Archaeologist Steven Mithen has linked such art to the emergence of more systematic hunting practices, proposing that anthropomorphism allowed hunters to empathize with prey and predict their movements.
Reader's Guide
Anthropomorphism appears pervasively in religion and mythology, where deities are often depicted with human forms and qualities, exhibiting behaviors such as love, war, and jealousy. Ancient mythologies, including Greek deities like Zeus and Apollo, exemplified this. Both Judaism and Islam reject an anthropomorphic deity, and the Ismaili tradition rejects both assigning and negating attributes to God. In literature, anthropomorphism appears in fables from Hesiod's Works and Days, Aesop's fables, and Indian collections like the Jataka Tales and Panchatantra, using animals to teach wisdom.
Did You Know?
- In the Ismaili interpretation of Islam, both assigning attributes to God and negating them are considered anthropomorphism and are rejected.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Anthropomorphism as a literary trope?
It is the device of granting non-human characters human qualities such as speech, emotions, facial expressions, and physical traits. In practice, this produces talking animals, sentient toys, or anthropomorphized food that behave and think like people.
How does Anthropomorphism differ from Personification?
Personification briefly attributes a human action to an abstract idea or object for rhetorical effect, as in 'the storm raged.' Anthropomorphism builds a sustained, literal character with ongoing human personality, dialogue, and cognition, rather than a one-off figurative flourish.
What are well-known examples of Anthropomorphism in fiction?
Aesop's fables, Beatrix Potter's animals, George Orwell's Animal Farm, and Disney's The Lion King all rely heavily on the trope. Sentient toys and talking food characters are other frequent applications across children's literature and animation.
Where does the word Anthropomorphism come from?
It is built from the Greek ánthrōpos, meaning 'human,' and morphē, meaning 'form.' The compound essentially names the act of reshaping a non-human entity into a recognizable human mold.
Is Anthropomorphism a modern invention or something older?
It is regarded as an innate tendency in human psychology, with storytelling and artistic roots traceable to ancient cultures worldwide. Nearly every mythology and folklore tradition contains characters that blend human and non-human traits, making the trope far older than modern literature.
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