Paying the Doughboy: The Effect of Time and Money Mind-sets on Preference for Anthropomorphized Products

Abstract

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A Mind like Mine: The Exceptionally Ordinary Underpinnings of Anthropomorphism

“…Likewise, in Awad and Youn (2018), narcissists liked the narcissistic brand more only when it was presented with easily anthropomorphized features of eyes and an arrogant personified attitude. And in Wan (2018), money versus time priming only affected participants' evaluations when they were evaluating a product they had anthropomorphized. These results suggest that more sophisticated theorizing is necessary to understand how mo-tivations of a perceiver interact with features of the agent being perceived in order to enable important consequences of anthropomorphism.…”

“…However, perusing the literature reveals a much more promiscuous use of the term that includes having a face, bipedal bodies, individual identity, being part of a family, and even the shape of a Pom drink bottle (Wan 2018). In Newman's article on animism and narratives (2018), anthropomorphism was sometimes equated with being perceived as alive (see also Chandler and Schwarz 2010).…”

“…Which of these were responsible for the increased liking among narcissists? Similarly, in Wan (2018), experiment 1 participants evaluated a backpack (described using first-person language) that included a smiley face; they also labeled the backpack with three personality traits that they thought it might have. Some of these are bottom-up features elicited by the object itself (first-person language), whereas others are top-down reasoning processes provided by participants themselves (thinking of personality traits).…”

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

“…Priming the concept of money (vs. time) can also deter consumers from seeking out social connection with anthropomorphized products (Wan, ). Whereas money‐minded people are only interested in social relationships that facilitate the pursuit of their personal goals, time‐minded people view social relationships as a source of emotional connection with others (Mogilner & Aaker, ; Vohs, Mead, & Goode, ).…”

“…These different approaches to interpersonal relationships also translate into how consumers interact with anthropomorphized products. When MTurk participants were primed with the concept of money versus time, they expressed less interest in purchasing an anthropomorphized backpack (Wan, ). However, when the anthropomorphized product was framed as functional, money‐primed participants expressed more purchase interest because the instrumental benefits of fostering a relationship with the anthropomorphized product were made apparent.…”