![]() ![]() ![]() comments) were collected from the subreddit on June 12, 2015. community).Ī total of 100 Reddit posts and their replies (i.e. This study examines the content of a Reddit community dedicated to the support of people trying to quit using cannabis, in order to develop an understanding of the type of social networking occurring on this subreddit (e.g. Online communities can provide social support to those in need and can foster personal empowerment for individuals experiencing distress. Discussion addresses extensions of this theory into the specific psychological processes underlying anthropomorphism, applications of this theory into robotics and human-computer interaction, and the insights offered by this theory into the inverse process of dehumanization. These factors help to explain why anthropomorphism is so variable organize diverse research and offer testable predictions about dispositional, situational, developmental, and cultural influences on anthropomorphism. This theory predicts that people are more likely to anthropomorphize when anthropocentric knowledge is accessible and applicable, when motivated to be effective social agents, and when lacking a sense of social connection to other humans. This article describes a theory to explain when people are likely to anthropomorphize and when they are not, focused on three psychological determinants-the accessibility and applicability of anthropocentric knowledge (elicited agent knowledge), the motivation to explain and understand the behavior of other agents (effectance motivation), and the desire for social contact and affiliation (sociality motivation). Although surprisingly common, anthropomorphism is not invariant. Examination of the human– cat relationship and its social context may inspire higher esteem for cats, resulting in more compassionate treatment in policy circles and in society.Īnthropomorphism describes the tendency to imbue the real or imagined behavior of nonhuman agents with humanlike characteristics, motivations, intentions, or emotions. Through meaningful, intentional interactions, cats are widely constructed as persons who fulfill familial and social functions in many of the same ways as humans. They also conceive of cats as members of the family through expressions of caretaking, biographies, and mourning rituals. Cat owners impart personhood through attribution of thought, individuality, and emotion, as well as defining the cat’s social space. Individuals who contribute to the online community inform multispecies social theory through constructing their cats as persons embedded in relationships with humans, particularly in families, in many of the same ways as did personal photography from the early twenti- eth century. We then generated themes to describe the dataset overall. We used a similar approach for analyzing photos: we assigned each image one or more codes describing the cat, humans, and other relevant details. We used value coding to examine attitudes toward cats in post titles and pattern coding to develop overarching themes. We collected photos and accompanying titles from the largest cat community on Reddit. By examining the photos that cat owners share online, as well as the language that accompanies the photos, we create an understanding of how images encourage the social construction of cats as beings who exhibit features of personhood. On her Instagram page, her owner stated: “Sometimes you just need a Smoothie in your life”.Ĭheck out some more photographs of Smoothie on the next few pages.This study explores how domestic cats and their connections to humans are represented in a modern photo-sharing context through content analysis of Reddit, a popular social media website. Some of the shots in her collection include a picture of her looking pensively outside a window. #Most fotogenic cat professionalThe deep green eyed cat has shiny fur that looks like it has been worked on all day by a team of professional hair stylists. While some of us many only have a few nice angles, Smoothie’s best angle is just about every angle as far as I know. #Most fotogenic cat how toLooking like a cross-bred of a fox and a cat, Smoothie knows just how to pose for the camera to get the best shots. The beautiful British Longhair has amassed a staggering 169,000 Instagram followers that are just as transfixed on her alluring appearance as I am. This cat could easily be taken for a professional model with his striking look. This might not be the case for all cats, but I am telling you that this cat named Smoothie is no short of such descriptions. Most of the times that we see a cat, our comments would include “cute”, “fluffy”, “big pretty eyes”, etc. ![]()
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