Cardio with Mr. Treadmill: How Anthropomorphizing the Means of Goal Pursuit Increases Motivation

This research examines the motivational consequences of anthropomorphizing the means of goal pursuit. In six studies, we find that consumers are more motivated to pursue fitness and academic goals when they think of the corresponding means in anthropomorphic (vs. non-anthropomorphic) terms because anthropomorphized means elicit a greater sense of companionship and thus a greater expectation that goal pursuit will be enjoyable. We first show that gym-goers workout harder on a treadmill when they think of it in anthropomorphic (vs. non-anthropomorphic) terms (study 1), and that students perform better at an academic task when they work with a visually anthropomorphized (vs. non-anthropomorphized) pen (study 2). We then show that this effect occurs through a greater sense of companionship and perceived enjoyability (sequential mediation; study 3). We further demonstrate these underlying mechanisms through moderation: the effect attenuates when a human companion is present (i.e. when companionship is already heightened; study 4) and for means perceived as inherently fun (i.e., when enjoyability is already heightened; study 5). Finally, we identify a boundary condition: the effect disappears when the means is described as a supervisor rather than as a partner/companion (study 6).