Do You Talk To Your Plants, Pets, Or Cars?

I confess, I’m guilty of at least two of these — pets and cars. I I have named cars in the past, talked lovingly and caressed the wheel as I pleaded with them to turn over on cold mornings.

I haven’t found myself talking to plants but have read numerous articles about how much it supposedly helps them grow.

If You Do Are You Normal?

There is a term for this practice. It’s called anthropomorphism. It’s the act of assigning human characteristics to inanimate non-human objects.

How many of you had an imaginary friend growing up? Someone you could tell all your secrets to.

As you might guess a study, probably more than one, has been done on this.

Relax, You’re OK!

According to an article in Quartz you are absolutely normal. A study was done at the University of Chicago by behavioral scientist Nicholas Epley who says:

“Historically, anthropomorphizing has been treated as a sign of childishness or stupidity, but it’s actually a natural byproduct of the tendency that makes humans uniquely smart of this planet.”

The Three Reasons You Talk To Things

According to Epley there are three reasons we humanize objects:

1. The object looks like it might have a face.
2. We want to make friends with it. Not sure about a cactus.
3. Or we can’t explain its unpredictable behavior.

Some Final Thoughts

We planted three trees in our front yard recently. Two are alike, and my wife and I named them Thelma and Louise from the movie of the same name.

Unfortunately, Louise has a broken branch from a storm last year that we are going to have to cut off. Louise will be shorter than Thelma.

The other tree we named Bob. I really can’t remember why we came up with that particular name.

My wife will continue to be the plant whisperer in our family and I will continue the responsibility of the cars and pets.

Who or what will you talk to today?

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