DIARY OF A GRANDFATHER: She loved that car-did she realize she was anthropomorphizing?

She loved that car-did she realize she was anthropomorphizing?

It is in the manner of things that we become attached to inanimate objects that are useful, beautiful, cute or just take our fancy.

So it was with my daughter Katy, she wrote this on her Facebook page:

Today I said goodbye to one of the true loves of my life…Sebastian. With me through thick and thin, the good times and the bad. You will always be remembered with love and fondness. To others you may be a car but to me you are a true friend. May you go into a full and happy retirement.

Well put Katy, Sebastian spent many years with her through Uni and on to her nursing career and young life. It is understandable that she be attached to that little red Barina. Before that Sebastian had spent years on the road as a courier vehicle for our X-Ray Business. The speedometer had stopped at 300.000 Kilometres, so no one really knows how far he went probably over half a million kilometres.

It got me thinking; why do we attach personalities to our things?

Giving human characteristics to animals, inanimate objects or natural phenomena is a human trait called “to anthropomorphize.”
http://psychcentral.com/news/2010/03/01/why-do-we-anthropomorphize/11766.html

an·thro·po·mor·phize

verb \-ˌfīz\

an·thro·po·mor·phizedan·thro·po·mor·phiz·ing

Definition of ANTHROPOMORPHIZE

intransitive verb

: to attribute human form or personality to things not human

— an·thro·po·mor·phi·za·tion \-ˌmȯr-fə-ˈzā-shən\ noun

OK we all do it to things, animals, gadgets, cars; I suppose it is a way of getting around things, explaining them. I think this goes way back in history, long before Mickey Mouse and other characters we have today. Just look at the statues and gods of ancient civilizations - they had human characteristics and were attributed with powers that were human. My guess is that we transfer or attribute our human feelings and motivations to animals or even inanimate objects in order to relate to them as humans. We give them power, but in reality, we are trying to give ourselves power by doing so. Modern psychologists sometimes claim that people personify in some cases because it makes a creature or item easy to relate to, which allows a person to form a connection with it — in other words, some anthropomorphism happens because humans are social beings who don't want to be lonely. It fulfils, on some level, the need individuals have for interaction and understanding.

http://www.wisegeek.org/what-is-anthropomorphism.htm#didyouknowout