This common quirk is a sign of intelligence
A couple of months ago, we learnt that people who talk to themselves could in fact be smarter than those who don’t. Now, researchers have taken it a step further, discovering that talking to pets is also a sign of intelligence.
According to Nicholas Epley, professor of behavioural science at the University of Chicago and author of Mindwise: How We Understand What Others Think, Believe, Feel and Want, believes that talking to pets, plants and other non-human things is what makes humans so unique – and so smart.
“Historically, anthropomorphising has been treated as a sign of childishness or stupidity, but it’s actually a natural by-product of the tendency that makes humans uniquely smart on this planet,” he tells Quartz. “No other species that has this tendency.”
It’s the reason why we name our cars, assign human emotions to our animal friends, describe the weather as “threatening” or “angry”. It’s simply a symptom of active, smart and social brains.
And it’s not a new phenomenon, either. According to Ingrid Piller, professor of linguistics at Macquarie University, anthropomorphisation has been going on for more than a thousand years. “If you’re a legendary knight, you trust and defend your life through your weapon, and if you’re on a ship a few hundred years ago, your life is at the mercy of the vessel,” she explains. “You name the vessel because it becomes your most important companion. You want to believe it has vested interest in keeping you safe – even though it truly has no interests at all.”
This same mental framework also explains why we see faces everywhere – in the sky, in our food… heck, some people even swear they’ve seen Jesus in a potato chip, slice of toast and a banana.
So rest easy – if you’re seeing faces and talking to inanimate objects, you’re not going crazy. Sure, you’ll get a few strange looks, but you can rest easy in the fact that your “weird” quirks are completely normal and part of what make you who you are.
Tell us in the comments below, do you talk to pets, plants and other items around your house?