Autistic Anthropomorphism

Aka My Plushie is My Best Friend, and That's Okay!

Photo from Pexels by Susanne Jutzeler, suju-foto

There's been a lot of presumptions about autism that don't actually align with the autistic experience.

A very common one is about empathy.

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Most articles wax poetic about how little empathy autistic people have, when in actuality we just view the world through a different lens. We are dripping with empathy, even though we don't show it in neurotypical ways.

One way that can express, and can sometimes cause distress, is by anthropomorphizing – or humanizing – inanimate objects.

Autistic people have vast and deep inner worlds. Because we communicate and interact so differently, we often feel very lonely. That loneliness is helped by making friends -- and when human friends aren't an option? Animals, objects, and fictional characters fill the hole.

Recently this phenomenon has been starting to be explored. Articles have been written showing that this exists, and guessing one way or the other on how healthy a coping skill it is. But talking to fellow autistics, I've found most of us are quite happy with our companions, especially nonhuman ones.

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Often the most distressing thing about having them is how we'll be perceived for having them. Being made fun of, or ostracized by, loved ones for finding kinship in non-human entities is heartbreaking. Having human friends distance themselves over things like having a comfort companion plush, even as a keychain, is awful. Having vivid inner worlds, thriving with entities others don't perceive, can be tough. And pathologizing it is even worse – imaginary friends are a wonderful tool, therapeutic or otherwise, and making people feel broken for coping with one is horrible.

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Especially when neurotypicals often have similar coping skills: writing letters to people who have passed, relating to characters in media for inspiration, role-playing conversations with therapists, stream of consciousness writing, diaries, and more. The same coping skills are applied more with our self-made companions, rather than externally to others.

Obviously this is all anecdotal evidence from discussions within community. These are arguments based on a handful of experiences and more research desperately needs to be done.

But it also shows a large oversight by the research community: inclusion of autistic people in research spaces.

The few studies that exist don't ask questions to gauge what about humanizing the non-human is distressing. Is it the feeling of reinforcing autistic stereotypes? Is it the exclusion or ridicule of others? Is the created relationship with the inanimate or nonhuman itself distressing?

They also don't ask why they exist. Is it a coping mechanism? A comfort tool? A role-play technique? Solely a reaction to loneliness? More questions need to be asked than broad, vague, overarching questions common in academia. We're autistic, be specific. We thrive in clarity and detail.

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In the meantime, be nice to your friends – especially those with nonhuman friends as well. Be respectful of their internal relationships as well as their interpersonal ones. For many of us, they're just as important as each other.

And, of course, I'll link the articles that do exist. Peruse them to make your own opinions as well.

Works Cited

“APA PsycNet.” Apa.org, 2024, psycnet.apa.org/record/2017-36702-001. Accessed 13 Sept. 2024.

Atherton, Gray, and Liam Cross. “Seeing More than Human: Autism and Anthropomorphic Theory of Mind.” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 9, 17 Apr. 2018, www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00528/full, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00528. Accessed 13 Sept. 2024.

Caruana, Nathan. “Autistic Traits and Loneliness in Autism Are Associated with Increased Tendencies to Anthropomorphise - Nathan Caruana, Rebekah c White, Anna Remington, 2021.” Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 2021, journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/17470218211005694. Accessed 13 Sept. 2024.

Clutterbuck, Rachel A. “Anthropomorphic Tendencies in Autism: A Conceptual Replication and Extension of White and Remington (2019) and Preliminary Development of a Novel Anthropomorphism Measure - Rachel a Clutterbuck, Punit Shah, Hok Sze Leung, Mitchell J Callan, Natalia Gjersoe, Lucy a Livingston, 2022.” Autism, 2019, journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/13623613211039387. Accessed 13 Sept. 2024.

Davis, Paige E, et al. “Imaginary Companions in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.” Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, vol. 48, no. 8, 21 Mar. 2018, pp. 2790–2799, link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-018-3540-y, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3540-y. Accessed 13 Sept. 2024.

Deniz Tahiroglu, and Marjorie Taylor. “Anthropomorphism, Social Understanding, and Imaginary Companions.” British Journal of Developmental Psychology, vol. 37, no. 2, 20 Nov. 2018, pp. 284–299, bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/bjdp.12272, https://doi.org/10.1111/bjdp.12272. Accessed 13 Sept. 2024.

Hoi, Rachel. “Relationship between Autism and Mind Perception of Selves, Others, and Toy Objects.” International Journal of Personality Psychology, vol. 7, 22 Feb. 2021, ijpp.rug.nl/article/view/37351, https://doi.org/10.21827/ijpp.7.37351. Accessed 13 Sept. 2024.

Negri, Orli, et al. “A Friendly Article: The Qualitative Investigation of Anthropomorphism in Autistic and Nonautistic Adults.” Autism in Adulthood, vol. 1, no. 4, 1 Dec. 2019, pp. 286–296, https://doi.org/10.1089/aut.2019.0027.

“Object Anthropomorphism: Walking a Day in Someone Else’s Wheels.” PennNeuroKnow, PennNeuroKnow, 12 Mar. 2024, pennneuroknow.com/2024/03/12/object-anthropomorphism-walking-a-day-in-someone-elses-wheels/. Accessed 13 Sept. 2024.

Severson, Rachel L, and Shailee R Woodard. “Imagining Others’ Minds: The Positive Relation between Children’s Role Play and Anthropomorphism.” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 9, 13 Nov. 2018, www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02140/full, https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02140. Accessed 13 Sept. 2024.

Trimingham, Melissa. “Objects in Transition: The Puppet and the Autistic Child.” Journal of Applied Arts and Health, vol. 1, no. 3, 1 Dec. 2010, pp. 251–265, intellectdiscover.com/content/journals/10.1386/jaah.1.3.251_1, https://doi.org/10.1386/jaah.1.3.251_1. Accessed 13 Sept. 2024.

White, Rebekah C. “Object Personification in Autism: This Paper Will Be Very Sad If You Don’t Read It - Rebekah c White, Anna Remington, 2019.” Autism, 2019, journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1362361318793408. Accessed 13 Sept. 2024.

Wiley.com, 2024, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/aur.2975. Accessed 13 Sept. 2024.