An Angry Volcano? Reminders of Death and Anthropomorphizing Nature

Anthropomorphizing nature is a powerful and pervasive cognitive tendency. The present experiment examined whether existential concerns are implicated in this tendency. Nonreligious and religious Christian participants were asked to assign human characteristics to two natural objects, one benign (a tree), and one potentially threatening (a volcano). Reminders of death reduced the tendency to anthropomorphize both objects. The volcano was anthropomorphized less than the tree. These findings are examined in light of two hypotheses regarding the role of existential concerns in anthropomorphizing nature.