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Adam Waytz Ph.D.

About

Adam Waytz is a psychologist whose research has primarily focused on the domains of anthropomorphism (treating non-humans as mental, humanlike agents) and dehumanization (treating humans as mindless savages or automata). He received his Ph.D. from University of Chicago, where he worked in collaboration with John Cacioppo and Nick Epley. Together, they developed a psychological theory of anthropomorphism based on two motivational determinants (sociality and effectance) and one cognitive determinant (the elicitation of anthropocentric knowledge). This model appears in a 2007 Psychological Review article, entitled "On seeing human: A three-factor theory of anthropomorphism," that won the 2008 SPSP Theoretical Innovation award. He is an Associate Professor of Management and Organizations at Northwestern University.

Recent Posts
Fuzzy Personhood
The natural sciences have recently demonstrated that chimpanzees grieve for the loss of loved ones, that plants that are capable of recognizing their siblings, and that Poplar trees can feel stressed out. These remarkable findings imply that the world all around us is becoming more human.