Inanimate objects can have personality traits associated with them, say psychologists at the University of Toronto at Scarborough.

Professor John Basilli and Ph.D. candidate Rick Brown examined a phenomenon known as spontaneous trait transference and discovered that people can unconsciously link personality traits to inanimate objects.

Spontaneous trait transference occurs when people unconsciously transfer a personality trait from a person being described to the speaker describing the person. For example, a person discussing the dishonesty of another person could end up being thought of as dishonest themselves. It was previously believed that this phenomenon could only occur from person to person, that is, the trait being discussed would be transferred to the person discussing it.

Basilli and Brown found the phenomenon could also be extended to inanimate objects. “For example, people could start associating the trait ‘superstitious’ with a banana because the banana happened to be there when they learned about the superstitious behaviour of a person,” said Brown.

He said, however, that it is unlikely that people often make these associations. The association is only made when people hear of a personality trait while “an inanimate object is active in [their] working memory.”

Trait transference is unconscious, but Brown maintained that most people are not excessively influenced by it. He emphasized that in most cases, “people are fairly good at judging the character of others. However,” he added, “this ability drops dramatically when the individual does not put much effort into it.” Brown suggested that the trait transference technique only has limited applicability; it is possible to convince others of your honesty by describing the honesty of others, but only until they know you better. And your banana isn’t honest at all.