mispersonal

Mispersonal is a term that describes the act of attributing personal characteristics, intentions, or agency to something that is not capable of having them. This can manifest in various ways, often rooted in anthropomorphism, the tendency to assign human qualities to non-human entities. For example, someone might say a computer "refused" to work or that a car "didn't want" to start, implying a deliberate refusal or desire on the part of the inanimate object.

This phenomenon is common in everyday language and can be a form of figurative speech or a natural way for humans to understand and interact with their environment. Children, in particular, frequently engage in mispersonalization as they develop their understanding of the world and the distinction between living and non-living things.

While often harmless, mispersonalization can sometimes lead to misunderstandings. In technological contexts, for instance, attributing intentions to software or hardware can obscure the actual technical reasons for a malfunction. In more serious cases, mispersonalization can contribute to biases or unfair judgments when applied to groups of people or abstract concepts. Understanding mispersonalization helps in analyzing communication and recognizing when assumptions about agency are being made.