Our modern take on anthropomorphism is often funny, silly, cute, sometimes creepy but rarely serious. More often than not, it is used to entertain children. The use of anthropomorphism in literature has been a didactic teaching tool since the time of Aesop's Fables; "-the happy dog, the persistent tortoise, the industrious ant--resonate and endure today" (Horowitz & Bekoff. P. 61). This phenomenon only grew as time would persist. So why is anthropomorphism so profuse in Children's literature?
Using animals to teach lessons can be an effective way to communicate sensitive subject matter to a child without being too emotionally taxing. For adults, however, anthropomorphism is largely removed from everyday life. We have made conscious efforts to eliminate anthropomorphic terms from our scientific studies:
Using animals to teach lessons can be an effective way to communicate sensitive subject matter to a child without being too emotionally taxing. For adults, however, anthropomorphism is largely removed from everyday life. We have made conscious efforts to eliminate anthropomorphic terms from our scientific studies:
"Darwin spoke of "ants chasing and pretending to bite each other, like so many puppies" (1871/448). A century later, a more typical description of the study of ants (taken from a biological research group's website) investigates "the presence of neurochemical mechanisms underlying the phenomena of social reward and social cohesion in ant colonies," and "the role of homo- and heterospecific social context in the control of the expression/suppression of ant behaviour" (Horowitz & Bekoff. P. 61)
This indicates to me that while anthropomorphism still exists within a recreational framework, we aim to eliminate it from the logical fields of modern life, limiting it's use largely to Children's literature and scary movies.
Horowitz, Alexandra C., and Marc Bekoff. “Anthropomorphism.” Encyclopedia of Human-Animal Relationships (2007): 60-66. Academic Search Complete. Web. 15 Nov. 2014.