Attribution Of Human Characteristics Research Articles

ANTHROPOMORPHISM IN THE TALE OF BAYAN BUDIMAN

This research analyzes the element of anthropomorphism in the classical Malay literary work entitled "The Tale of Bayan Budiman". Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics and behaviors to non-human entities, such as animals and natural phenomena. In this tale, the main character, a Bayan bird, is depicted as having the ability to speak, give advice, tell stories, and lead like a human. This research employs qualitative textual analysis methods to explore the representations of anthropomorphism in the narrative, dialogues, and descriptions of the text. The findings reveal that anthropomorphism is used to convey moral messages, stimulate the reader's imagination, and reflect the Malay worldview on the relationship between humans and nature. However, anthropomorphism can also obscure the essence and nature of different living beings, especially for child readers. This research contributes to the preservation of Malay literary heritage and provides a deeper understanding of the use of anthropomorphism in classical works

Cognitive load increases anthropomorphism of humanoid robot. The automatic path of anthropomorphism

Humanoid robots might become more and more present in the most ordinary contexts of millions of people worldwide. Humans reason about these artificial agents mainly through the attribution of human characteristics, a process called anthropomorphism. However, despite number of studies, how we develop and structure the representation of non-human agents is still an open question. In the present paper, we aim at integrating the anthropomorphism into the cognitive control theory, a construct from cognitive neuroscience that refers to information processing and cognitive resources managing that varies adaptively to the situation. In three experiments we manipulated the cognitive load of participants during the observation of an active robot to investigate how the load could impact the online structuration of participants’ mental representation of the robot. The two first experiment converged in arguing for a control process resource-demanding to switch from the social cognition to the physical cognition inhibiting anthropomorphic inferences. The third experiment investigated the influence of the “what” and “why” observation goals on the cognitive load effect arguing that an explicit focus on intentionality attribution bias the automatic process of anthropomorphism. The representation and perception of robots are further discussed in term of cognitive control theory and social cognition.

The moderating role of personal culture on the relationship between retail brand personality and shoppers’ loyalty: An evidence of supermarkets in Vietnam

Nowadays, one of the most common trends in retail industry research is the attribution of human characteristics or traits to retail brands. The term “retail brand personality or retailer personality” was born with various definitions and measurement scales from different cultures. Therefore, this paper aims are (i) to develop retail brand personality measurement scale tailor-made for general supermarkets, the most popular retail format in Vietnam, (ii) to measure the impact of retail brand personality dimensions on shoppers’ loyalty, and (iii) to investigate the moderating effects of personal cultural orientations on these relationships. The scale was developed through two stages: Item generation and item purification with the collected data on quota sampling of 403 shopping-goers, and then analyzed by SEM and MSEM method (Moderated structural equation modeling).The results indicated that retail brand personality consisted of four dimensions: Reliability, Sophistication, Modern, and Family-oriented, significantly found to impact on shoppers’ loyalty, in which Sophistication and Reliability were the strongest. More interestingly, the moderating role of personal cultural orientations in these regards was greatly identified. Particularly, shoppers with high independence culture highly appreciated the relationship between Sophistication and Modern dimensions and shoppers’ loyalty whereas shoppers with high Interdependence culture only supported for the impact of Reliability on loyalty. However, both personal culture orientations were found not be significantly related directly to the loyalty. The findings may help retailers and marketers come up with more effective marketing solutions in terms of enhancing symbolic values for their retail brands and adjust their integrated marketing and communication activities accordingly. This paper has a significant contribution of exploring the moderating role of personal cultural orientations on the relationship between retail brand personality and shoppers’ loyalty by the new analysis methodology - MSEM.

The Effect of Germ Movement on the Construal of Mental States in Germs: The Moderating Role of Contamination Fear

In two studies, we examined a novel relationship between movement and anthropomorphism—the attribution of human characteristics to nonhuman agents—in relation to germs. Furthermore, we examined whether individual differences in contamination fear and disgust proneness moderated the effect of movement on the tendency to anthropomorphize germs. Following an initial study that demonstrated associations between imagined germ movement, contamination fear, and the attribution of malevolent intentions to germs, we conducted a second study that experimentally manipulated germ movement with a brief film clip of magnified germs. The results of the second study showed that the experimental manipulation of germ movement increased attributions of malevolent intentions to germs and enhanced the tendencies of individuals with higher levels of contamination fear to attribute some general human characteristics to germs (i.e., intentions, feelings). These findings suggest that the attribution of malevolent intentions to germs may be a cognitive distortion that contributes to the maintenance of contamination fear, which may afford a novel treatment target. Perceived movement may serve as an antecedent to the attribution of malevolent intentions to germs and thus exacerbate the tendency to make these attributions.

Attribution of human characteristics and bullying involvement in childhood: Distinguishing between targets.

This investigation researched the association between the attribution of human characteristics and bullying involvement in children by distinguishing between targets. Study 1 focused on the attribution of human characteristics by bullies, victims, bully/victims, and non-involved children toward friends and non-friends. The data from 405 children (M = 10.7 years old) showed that they attributed fewer prosocial and more antisocial human characteristics to non-friends than to friends. Moreover, boy victims attributed fewer prosocial human characteristics to non-friends than boy bullies and non-involved boys did. In addition, victims attributed more antisocial human characteristics to non-friends than non-involved children did. Study 2 addressed bullies', victims', bully/victims', and non-involved children's attribution of human characteristics to each other. The data of 264 children (M = 10.0 years old) showed that bullies, victims, and bully/victims attributed fewer prosocial and more antisocial human characteristics to each other than to non-involved children. Non-involved children attributed fewer prosocial human characteristics to bully/victims than to bullies and victims, and more antisocial human characteristics to bully/victims than to victims. In addition, girls attributed more prosocial and fewer antisocial human characteristics to girls than to boys, whereas boys did not distinguish between girls and boys. Based on these findings, suggestions for future research are provided and implications for bullying prevention and intervention are discussed. Aggr. Behav. 42:394-403, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Individual differences in anthropomorphic attributions and human brain structure.

Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics or behaviour to animals, non-living things or natural phenomena. It is pervasive among humans, yet nonetheless exhibits a high degree of inter-individual variability. We hypothesized that brain areas associated with anthropomorphic thinking might be similar to those engaged in the attribution of mental states to other humans, the so-called 'theory of mind' or mentalizing network. To test this hypothesis, we related brain structure measured using magnetic resonance imaging in a sample of 83 healthy young adults to a simple, self-report questionnaire that measured the extent to which our participants made anthropomorphic attributions about non-human animals and non-animal stimuli. We found that individual differences in anthropomorphism for non-human animals correlated with the grey matter volume of the left temporoparietal junction, a brain area involved in mentalizing. Our data support previous work indicating a link between areas of the brain involved in attributing mental states to other humans and those involved in anthropomorphism.

Chapter 1. Ethica ex Machina: Issues in roboethics

Is "roboethics" the "ethics of humans" or the "ethics of robots"? According to the Roboethics Roadmap (Gianmarco Veruggio), it is the human ethics of robot designers, manufacturers, and users. And ifroboethics roots deeply in society, artificial ethics (ethics of robots) might be put on the agenda some day. At the 1st International Symposium on Roboethics in San Remo, Ronald C. Arkin gave the presentation "Bombs, Bonding, and Bondage: Human-Robot Interaction and Related Ethical Issues" (2004). "Bondage" is the issue of enslavement and possible rebellion of robots. "Bombs" is the issue of military use of robots. And "bonding" is the issue of affective, emotional attachment of humans to robots. I contrast two extreme attitudes towards the issue of "bonding" and propose a middle ground. "Anthropomorphism" has two meanings. First, it means "human-shaped-ness." Second, it means "attribution of human characteristics or feelings to a nonhuman being (god, animal, or object)" (personification, empathy). Some say that Japanese (or East Asians) hold "animism," which makes it easy for them to treat robots like animated beings (to anthropomorphize robots); hence "Robot Kingdom Japan." Cosima Wagner criticizes such exaggeration and oversimplification as "invented tradition". I reinforce her argument with neuroscientific findings and argue that such "animism" is neither Shintoistic nor Buddhistic, but a universal tendency. Roboticists, especially Japanese roboticists emphasize that robotics is "anthropology." It is true that through the construction of humanoid robots we can better understand human beings (so-called "constructive approach"). But at the same time, we must not forget that robotic technology, like any other technology, changes our way of living and being--deeply: it can bring about our ontological transformation. In this sense, the governance of robotic technology is "governed governance." The interdisciplinary research area of technology assessment studies (TAS) will gain much importance. And we should always be ready to rethink the direction of the research and development of robotic technology, bearing the desirable future of human society in mind.