As hurricanes Lee and Margot sweep across the US, David Robson looks at why we name the things that threaten us – and whether this is helpful.
, the US will brace itself for Atlantic tropical cyclones Gaston, Tobias, Paula and Bonnie, and Eastern North Pacific cyclones Zeke, Howard, Celia and Roslyn, among others. In the Central North Pacific, the names in use are more diverse – with Hawaiian names such as Malia and Ekeka.an iconic experiment
The team's next experiments all revealed the same trend. They asked participants to consider different types of devices, for example, some of which behaved more erratically than others. They were told about a clock, for example, that would either run away from you, or jump on top of you, when you hit the snooze button.
In their final experiment, Waytz and his colleagues directly tested whether anthropomorphism successfully reduces the feelings of uncertainty – and to do so, they returned to a version of the film that Heider and Simmel had used in their classic study from the mid-1940s, with geometric shapes running around a screen.
Given these results, the personification of Covid-19 may have been a natural reaction to the huge uncertainty of the pandemic, Waytz suspects."The desire for sense-making over a very unpredictable situation, led people to anthropomorphise the disease," he says.The sense of control can offer useful comfort.
When it comes to our health, however, anthropomorphism may protect us from risk. Personifying an illness seems to make the danger feel closer and increases people's sense of vulnerability, and this encourages us to take suitable precautions, according toIn the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, for example, they gave participants one of two messages offering information about ways to avoid infection.
To replicate the result, the team conducted similar experiments for a variety of other diseases – and found very similar results each time. Whether the participants were examining information about vaccination for yellow fever, screening for breast cancer, sunscreen to avoid skin cancer, or means to reduce high blood pressure, messages that anthropomorphised the relevant illness encouraged greater compliance with the medical advice.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Harley Quinn makeup is one of the easiest (and most effective) Halloween looksIn honour of one of Margot Robbie’s finest moments.
Read more »
Hurricane Lee and travel: Latest on flight, ferry impacts in Boston areaWith Hurricane Lee getting closer to the Massachusetts coast — the storm’s latest track indicates it will swipe Boston with wind and rain but won’t make landfall there — travel in and out of the area is beginning to be impacted. Flights to New England may be affected, according to the Federal Aviation Administration, which was monitoring the situation on…
Read more »
Hugh Jackman And Deborra-Lee Furness Split After 27 Years Of Marriage“Our journey now is shifting and we have decided to separate to pursue our individual growth,” the X-Men star and his wife, a fellow actor, wrote.
Read more »
Hugh Jackman and wife Deborra-Lee's relationship as they announce divorceThe pair were together for almost 30 years.
Read more »