擬人化是將人類特征、動機、意向或心理狀態賦予非人對象的心理過程或者個體差異。擬人化的產生受到激發主體知識、效能動機和社會動機的影響,現有研究包括對自然、超自然、動物、機器、品牌和產品等的擬人化。對自然的擬人化能夠促進環境保護行為,對動物、機器、品牌和產品的擬人化則形式多樣、后果復雜。未來研究的焦點可能在人-機器人交互以及擬人化與可愛的關系問題上。

Anthropomorphism refers to the psychological process or individual difference of imbuing nonhuman agents with humanlike characteristics, motivations, intentions, or mental states. Elicited agent knowledge, effectance motivation, and sociality motivation have been found as the three key determinants of anthropomorphism. Existing research mainly focused on anthropomorphism of nature, super-nature, animals, machines, brands, and products. Previous research found that, anthropomorphizing nature contributed to pro-environment behavior, while anthropomorphism of animals, machines, brands or products had diversified forms and ambiguous consequences. Future research might be mainly conducted in human-robot interaction area, as well as the relationship between anthropomorphism and cuteness.