Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology.Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to abstract concepts such as nations, emotions, and natural forces, such as seasons and weather.
Both have ancient roots as storytelling and artistic devices, and most cultures have traditional fables with anthropomorphized animals as characters. People have also routinely attributed human emotions and behavioral traits to wild as well as domesticated animals.
Anthropomorphism (noun)
The attribution of human characteristics and behavior to something not human. from the mid-18th c.
Anthropomorphism (noun)
the attribution of human characteristics to divine beings
Personification (noun)
A person, thing or name typifying a certain quality or idea; an embodiment or exemplification.
“Adolf Hitler was the personification of anti-Semitism.”
Personification (noun)
A literary device in which an inanimate object or an idea is given human qualities.
“The writer used personification to convey her ideas.”
Personification (noun)
An artistic representation of an abstract quality as a human
“The Grim Reaper is a personification of death.”
Personification (noun)
the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something non-human, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form
“the book provides a sustained account of how literary personification works”
Personification (noun)
a figure intended to represent an abstract quality
“the knight is accompanied by two feminine personifications of vice”
Personification (noun)
a person or thing regarded as embodying a quality, concept, etc.
“he was the very personification of British pluck and diplomacy”