This article examines the motivational consequences of anthropomorphizing the means of goal pursuit. Eight studies show that consumers are more motivated to pursue fitness and academic goals with anthropomorphized (vs. non-anthropomorphized) means because such means elicit a greater sense of companionship and thus stronger beliefs that (a) goal pursuit is enjoyable (perceived enjoyability) and that (b) the goal is attainable (goal expectancy). We first find that participants work out harder when using an anthropomorphized (vs. non-anthropomorphized) treadmill (Study 1) and jump rope (Study 2). We then show that this effect occurs due to a greater sense of companionship, which in turn increases both perceived enjoyability and goal expectancy (sequential mediations; Study 3). We further demonstrate these underlying mechanisms through moderation: the effect attenuates when a human companion is present (Study 4), for means perceived as inherently fun (Study 5), and when self-efficacy is high (Study 6). Study 7 identifies a boundary condition: the effect disappears when the means takes on a supervisor (rather than partner) role. Finally, Study 8 shows the downstream consequence of the effect on subsequent choice of means. These findings contribute to research on motivation and anthropomorphism, with practical implications for marketers and consumers.

中文翻译：

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快车：跑步机先生的有氧运动：将目标追求的方式拟人化如何提高动力


本文研究了将目标追求手段拟人化的激励后果。八项研究表明，消费者更有动力通过拟人化（相对于非拟人化）的方式追求健身和学术目标，因为这种方式会引起更大的陪伴感，从而更坚定地相信 （a） 追求目标是愉快的（感知的享受度）和 （b） 目标是可以实现的（目标预期）。我们首先发现，参与者在使用拟人化（与非拟人化）跑步机（研究 1）和跳绳（研究 2）时锻炼更加困难。然后我们表明，这种效果的发生是由于更大的陪伴感，这反过来又增加了感知的乐趣和目标预期（顺序中介;研究 3）。我们通过适度进一步证明了这些潜在机制：当有人类同伴在场时（研究 4），对于被认为本质上很有趣的手段（研究 5）和当自我效能感很高时（研究 6），这种影响会减弱。研究 7 确定了一个边界条件：当手段承担了监督者（而不是合作伙伴）的角色时，这种影响就消失了。最后，研究 8 显示了该影响对后续均值选择的影响的下游后果。这些发现有助于对动机和拟人化的研究，对营销人员和消费者具有实际意义。