When people feel sympathy for inanimate objects, they are anthropomorphizing, attributing human behaviors or feelings to animals or objects who cannot feel the same emotions as we do, Shepard said.

Although children as young as one year old seem to understand this difference between animate agents and inanimate objects, children as old as six still can’t verbalize these expectations.

Preschoolers With Autism Lag Behind Peers In Distinguishing Between Animate, Inanimate Objects Date: October 17, 2006 Source: Carnegie Mellon University Summary: Young children with autism appear ...

Children, however, aren't the only ones who sometimes develop intense attachments to inanimate objects whose owners nonetheless treat them as though they were living.

The closer to a vital structure in the body, the more precarious the consequence— especially when considering foreign objects where nature did not intend them to be. As I think more about inanimate ...

Objects don’t have feelings, but some people treat them like they do. It’s called anthropomorphizing, and it’s natural to do to objects and animals, experts say.