Article: SOUL + BODY: Lonely People Anthropomorphize, Social Folks Dehumanize.(Brief article)

When Nicholas Epley, Ph.D., assistant professor of the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business, conducted three experiments to determine how people deal with the effects of social isolation, he found three significant results: 1) the lonelier people felt, the more likely they were to describe gadgets (iPods or recliners, for instance) in human terms; 2) lonely people are more likely to believe in God, angels, or miracles; and 3) lonely people are more likely to describe their pets in positive human terms, such as "compassionate," "thoughtful," or "considerate."

Says Epley, "If we made people feel lonely, they were also more likely to describe a pet, ...

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