If I Only Have My Cat in This World: Impacts of Loneliness on Anthropomorphism and Dehumanization

Two studies were conducted to investigate whether there are relationships between loneliness, anthropomorphism, and dehumanization. The participants tended to perceive nonhuman agents to be more humanlike in the condition of loneliness than in the control condition. In addition, there was also higher levels of negatively biased perceptions of neighborhood characteristics.