Differential relationships between autistic traits and anthropomorphic tendencies in adults and early adolescents.

ABSTRACT: Anthropomorphism, the attribution of human-like qualities (e.g., mental states) to nonhuman entities, is a universal but variable psychological experience. Adults with professionally diagnosed autism or high levels of subclinical autistic traits consistently show greater tendencies to anthropomorphize, which has been hypothesized to reflect 1) a compensatory mechanism for lack of social connectedness and 2) a persistence of childhood anthropomorphism into adulthood. Here, we directly tested these hypotheses in a general population sample consisting of both adults (N=685, 17-58 years old) and early adolescents (N=145, 12-14 years old) using the refined 9-item Anthropomorphism Questionnaire (AnthQ9), which measures both present and childhood anthropomorphic tendencies. We found that adults w

SUBMITTER: Gao RR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11186442 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature