Anthropomorphism

Attribution of human traits to non-human entities

Anthropomorphism is the ascribing of human personality, appearance, conduct, cognition, or other attributes to non-human entities, often including non-human animals. In fiction and folklore, it is specifically the endowing of non-human characters with human-like behaviors, speech, facial expressions, etc.; common examples include intelligent talking animals, talking trees, anthropomorphized food, and sentient toys. As a general human tendency, anthropomorphism is considered innate to human psychology.

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