If a dog has a good sense of humor, is he more likely to be adopted? If he has good listening skills, are his chances of finding a home greater? If he knows how to play well with others, does the probability of him leaving the shelter with a person who will care for him increase?

These all may seem to be silly questions, but researchers who conducted this study proved their hypothesis: humanizing language encourages beneficial action toward non-humans.

Building on recent research that demonstrates that people have an affinity for non-human entities that appear to have human qualities, the two studies conducted for this research examined whether anthropomorphism can be used to promote animal welfare.

In Study 1, participants read scenarios about dogs and reported more willingness to help the ones described with anthropomorphic language relative to those described with non-anthropomorphic language.

In Study 2, participants rated dogs on either human or canine characteristics (e.g., good
listener vs. good at listening to commands). Relative to the non-anthropomorphism condition, participants in the anthropomorphism condition reported more willingness to adopt dogs from a shelter.

This research provides even more evidence that descriptive language is powerful – demonstrating that anthropomorphism has the power to encourage beneficent treatment of dogs, possibly even bringing society one step closer to eradicating animal cruelty.

Butterfield ME, Hill SE, Lord CG. Mangy mutt or furry friend? Anthropomorphism promotes animal welfare. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 2012;48(4):957-960.