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The Applicability of Motives and Affect Across Human and Nonhuman Objects

Gilbert, K. J., Berghändler, B., Ringwald, W. R., & Hopwood, C. J.

2026Empirical study

Beyond person-to-person

Psychological relatedness may not stop at the boundary of person-to-person relationships.

People organize meaning around other people, but also around animals, possessions, and places. This project asks which motivational and affective dimensions travel across those objects and which remain specific to a particular kind of relation.

Move among six objects of meaning

The target changes, but the psychological dimensions may travel.

A close person foregrounds attachment, mutuality, and an established relational history.

One person, several relational targets

The design compares meaning across human and nonhuman objects.

LevelPerson × psychologically meaningful object
DataQuestionnaires and narratives
FrameworkAgency, communion, and affect
ScopeSix human and nonhuman object categories

What travels across objects?

The project asks where common structure ends and specificity begins.

  1. 01

    Which dimensions generalize across kinds of objects?

  2. 02

    Where do object-specific patterns remain important?

  3. 03

    How do questionnaire and narrative perspectives align?