Boston U. Questrom School of Business, United States
“Female” anthropomorphized products are ubiquitous, from voice assistants like “Siri” to humanoid robots like “Sophia,” the first robot granted citizenship in Saudi Arabia. Advocates for equality warn that such gendering arises from problematic gender beliefs; however, we unearth a unique motivation for feminizing anthropomorphized products: desire for social affiliation. Across six independent studies (N = 5,016), we find that a desire for affiliation, above and beyond other motivations (i.e., power) and beliefs (i.e., sexism), underlies people’s gendering of, and choice for, feminized products. In demonstrating the association between desire for affiliation and feminization, we unearth one reason why anthropomorphized technology—technology often meant to fulfil affiliative needs—is gendered as female. We also provide one potential solution to counter it: imbuing products with feminine stereotypes (but not feminine gender). These results speak to the paradox of gendering anthropomorphized products in an increasingly digitized world.
