I remember as a child, I applied character traits and personalities to inanimate objects. Toys, rocks, balloons, imaginary friends and even distant things like the moon or things around town.

This behavior seems to have lingered into adulthood, however. And not just with me.
We apply personas to cars and machines and boats. Even to parts of those machines. When working on an engine or a transmission, I treat the girl with care and concern.

I was mulling over this one. What survival trait would we gain from doing this?
Why do we feel compelled to do this from early on? We develop loving attachment to the inanimate. As kids we even cry and grieve over something breaking. Not because our toy broke and we couldn't play with it anymore; but as if we have just lost a friend...

I have a doll I received when I was 7 yrs old on my birthday , it was a talking doll. I named her Susie , I was fond of her that she sleeps beside me .
I even treat her as my bestfriend.

She knows all my secrets , and hurts when I was a kid , especially when my mom and dad' s angry when I did something wrong .

Well , Im a grown up now and she is still my Susie.

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Jean
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"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing." - Albert Einsteiin

When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

We are social beings, with brains well-suited to surmising what our fellows are thinking and feeling, and much of our success comes from doing the same for animals around us.

It's no real surprise to me that we apply those same skills to inanimate objects.

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That sqeems abut rightto me. Smpl uman natur.

Edit: Stupid bloody keyboard, always out to get me!

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Quaeso quousque humi defixa tua mens erit? Nonne aspicis, quae in templa veneris?

But the inanimate isn't thinking anything.
In fact it's almost detrimental.
To use The Supreme Canuck's example...

If I hit my head on a half open cabinet in my kitchen I blame the cabinet door. I may even spontaniously react violently to the door to "punish it" for hurting me.

Which is more likely to do more harm to me than the cabinet door which will blissfully be numb to any of my efforts...

On top of this, I'm neglecting my own personal responsibility to protect myself and be aware of danger. By blaming the cabinet- it places the burden elsewhere than where it belongs- On myself.

This seems counterproductive to staying safe.

This behavior seems to have lingered into adulthood, however. And not just with me.
We apply personas to cars and machines and boats. Even to parts of those machines. When working on an engine or a transmission, I treat the girl with care and concern.

Perhaps it's a holdover from the days when people used animals for labor so they had to take care of living beings. A cavalry soldier 150 years ago had to treat his horse well or it could leave him walking. A fighter pilot often thinks of his plane affectionately lest it let him down. Watching the PBS series "The War" last week, I saw names painted not only on planes but even on trucks and tanks. It certainly isn't a recent development. Sailors have referred to their boats using the word "she" for centuries.

Soldiers with K-9 dogs . These men treat their dogs as their partner in life in the line of duty and even off duty.

Well, dogs are a man's best friends.

Just an off topic -- sure dogs are not inanimate objects.

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Jean
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"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing." - Albert Einsteiin

It think that the tendency to personalize objects is an extension of the tendency to see patterns and faces everywhere (in the clouds, in Mars). This ability has provided a big evolutionary advantage. It is a reminder of our social nature.

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If you're careful enough, nothing bad or good will ever happen to you.

I can understand that it is better to see a predator that isn't there than to not see one that is there.
However that seems the opposite of atributing character and personality traits to inanimate objects.
Although the similarity is striking, and I'm sure you are right that there is a connection, I also see this is detrimental to survival.
Caring for an inanimate object can cause hesitation at a crucial moment
Blaming inanimate objects for your own carelessness gives no motivation to improve your awareness of surrounding threats.
I cannot think of a positive result of caring for an inanimate object that might assist in survival but I can think of many where it might help you to get a Darwin Award.

Soldiers with K-9 dogs . These men treat their dogs as their partner in life in the line of duty and even off duty.

Well, dogs are a man's best friends.

Just an off topic -- sure dogs are not inanimate objects.

Yes, it's true that dogs are not inanimate objects. The relationship between a military or police dog and its handler can be very close, sometimes even transcending death.

Killed in Iraq, dog team buried together

The cremated remains of Wiens and Cooper, a Labrador retriever, were buried together at Salt Creek Cemetery in Wiens’ hometown of Dallas, Ore., at the request of his family, said Master Sgt. Matt McHugh, the family’s casualty assistance officer.

“Kory referred to Cooper as his son, that’s now much of a team they were,” McHugh said.

Deputy, K-9 die in I-26 collision

lower on the linked page:

A deputy and his police dog who died together in a head-on collision Friday on Interstate 26 will be buried together.

...

Deese's fellow officers and his family approved of the burial arrangement, which Nash said is not unusual when officers and dogs they work with die together. He said Deese was very devoted to his two working dogs and to his two pet dogs.

Sonja and Deese "had developed the close, emotional bond that comes about through depending on each other day in and day out," Nash said. He said "a very fitting tribute to Deese and Sonja" is being planned.

This is the kind of thread that pops up occasionally on the motorcycle forums.

I know quite a few guys who give their motorcycle a name, mostly a female name. Some even go so far as to have the name painted on. They probably think that if they call their bike by some name that it then becomes their friend (lover?) and won't throw them off or leave them stranded out in the desert, because surely a friend/lover wouldn't do that. I've seen some pretty weird "relationships" between bike and rider. To me, a motorcycle is just a thing. When I get tired of a thing I sell it and get another thing.

Alright, I'm guilty of that. If I trip over something I've carelessly left laying around, I kick it and curse it like it was it's fault. But I think this is more an extension of human nature of not blaming oneself (or projection of anger), than it is a biproduct of anthropomorphism.

For instance, with your cabinet door example; I too would probably react by taking my anger out on the door. But at the same time, I don't go walking into cabinent doors all the time because I expect them to move out of my way.


As for talking to inanimate objects and the like, all I can say is humans are very social creatures. It doesn't suprise me that we might sometimes treat objects that we have a lot of contact with the same way as we would treat a person we have contact with.

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.

Lost her name when I sold the Harley
But the loss didn't end there...
The guy that bought the bike let a step-son ride it and first thing he did was lay it out a week later. It was totaled. I sold it to the man I sold it to because he was my "adoptive dad." I knew how much he wanted it.
I was heartbroken, in this case not so much for the bike, though, but because the person I sold it to hadn't even had a chance to take her for even one ride yet...
ETA: I feel compelled to point out that there was no payment recieved for her. It didn't seem right to make him pay for a bike he never rode.
Just so that some of you don't get the idea I charged him for nothing

Actually, it's the first impulse but I've gotten tired of fixing things and have begun learning to control it

I think I'm being stubborn here. I'm getting alot of "it doesn't surprise me..."
I think I overthought this one and complicated it inside my skull.

Sometimes I have pangs of regret when I sell a bike (I've had 34 so far) but mostly because I wonder if I did the right thing and whether or not I will be as pleased with my next bike.

Actually, it's the first impulse but I've gotten tired of fixing things and have begun learning to control it
Yeah, same way I got tired of buying mice (clicky variety, not squeaky) and keyboards.

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.

Playstation controllers

That's an old weakness of mine, but now I have a 42" plasma tv and a glass coffee table, so I'm too afraid of the consequences to let one of those suckers fly.

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I'm like one of those idiot savants...well, except for the savant part.

I think we've put our collective finger on it. Man is social. Man's tiny monkey brain is stupid. Man thus attributes social characteristics to things because that's how man's stupid brain works.

Stupid, bloody brain.

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Quaeso quousque humi defixa tua mens erit? Nonne aspicis, quae in templa veneris?