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Whether it's artificial intelligence programs or the Amazon rainforest, people often experience gratitude or protectiveness toward non-human entities because they perceive these entities as having good intentions, according to research published in the journal Emotion .

"Gratitude may come from seeing good intentions here and there in the world, as opposed to simply knowing who or what has benefited you," said lead researcher Yen-Ping Chang, Ph.D., a senior lecturer at the University of Tasmania in Australia.

Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics, emotions, or behaviors to non-human entities, such as machines, animals, or natural phenomena.

The research included five online experiments with a total of more than 2,000 participants from the United States.…