Filatova A.F., Zinovieva E.V., Kuznetsova E.A., Platonova Y.S. Factors of Artificial Intelligence Anthropomorphism: The Role of Personality Self-Determination
Anastasia F. Filatova , PhD (Psychology), Senior Lecturer, Department of Personality Psychology, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia; bld. 7/9, Universitetskaya Emb., St. Petersburg, Russia,199034; a.filatova@spbu.ru
Elena V. Zinovieva, PhD (Psychology), Associate Professor, Department of Personality Psychology, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia; bld. 7/9, Universitetskaya Emb., St. Petersburg, Russia,199034; e.zinovieva@spbu.ru
Elena A. Kuznetsova , PhD (Psychology), Associate Professor, Department of Personality Psychology, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia; bld. 7/9, Universitetskaya Emb., St. Petersburg, Russia,199034; kuznetsova@spbu.ru
Yana S. Platonova , Assistant, Department of Personality Psychology, St. Petersburg State University, St. Petersburg, Russia; bld. 7/9, Universitetskaya Emb., St. Petersburg, Russia,199034; y.platonova@spbu.ru
The rapid development of large language models and services based on them gives rise to a new psychological phenomenon: users increasingly perceive artificial intelligence (AI) not only as a tool but also as a communicative partner or "quasi-subject" of relationships. There is a need for a comprehensive study of this phenomenon, as well as its personal and situational determinants of AI anthropomorphism.
The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between the process of AI anthropomorphism and personality autonomy and self-determination. It is hypothesized that the expression of different types of self-determination determines the specifics of AI perception (on a continuum from a tool to "quasi-subject" of relationships).
The research methods include surveying and questioning using the preliminary version of the author's AI Anthropomorphism Questionnaire, as well as the "Types of Personality Self-Determination" technique by S.N. Kostromina et al. The sample consisted of 150 respondents (mean age = 25.4 ± 11.9), from different cities in the Russian Federation, representing various educational and professional clusters.
The study revealed features of Russian-speaking users' interaction with AI, including a high frequency of use, predominance of research motivation over utilitarian motivation, attention to human-like interface, and moderate tendency to anthropomorphism. It was established that the level of AI anthropomorphism is positively associated with different types of personality self-determination: more autonomous and proactive users more actively adopt and "humanize" AI systems. The process of AI anthropomorphism is determined by the qualitative characteristics of interaction with the digital agent, as well as the frequency of large language model use.
The results can be used in developing evidence-based recommendations for the ethics of designing human-oriented AI systems.
Key words: artificial intelligence (AI), AI anthropomorphism, large language models (LLM), personality self-determination
For citation: Filatova, A.F., Zinovieva, E.V., Kuznetsova, E.A., Platonova, Y.S. (2026). Factors of artificial intelligence anthropomorphism: the role of personality self-determination. New Psychological Research, No. 3, 12–34. DOI: 10.51217/npsyresearch_2026_06_03_01
Acknowledgment
The study was supported by the Russian Science Foundation (RSF), project no. 25-28-02403 “Anthropomorphization in Human Interaction with AI: From Tool to Quasi-Subject of Relationships”.
Keywords: artificial intelligence (AI) AI anthropomorphism large language models (LLM) personality self-determination
Received: 26th septemper 2026
Published: 26th septemper 2026