антропоморфизм> (по-гречески “имеющий вид человека”) - характерная для первобытной эпохи вера, что обожествлённые неодушевлённые предметы: растения, животные, явления и силы природы имеют человеческие черты и свойства. <Антропоморфизм тесно связан с анимизмом.
http://www.rubricon.ru/whist_1.asp

АНТРОПОМОРФИЗМ м.
1. Перенесение присущих человеку психических свойств на явления природы, животных, предметы, мифические существа.
http://www.rubricon.ru/nsr_1.asp

вибачайте за російськомовні коментарі :)

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Note added at 2003-05-04 10:29:24 (GMT)
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Англомовне пояснення на підтримку корретності відповіді :)

Pathetic Fallacy
A fallacy of reason in suggesting that nonhuman phenomena act from human feelings, as suggested by the word \"pathetic\" from the Greek pathos; a literary device wherein something nonhuman found in nature-a beast, plant, stream, natural force, etc.-performs as though from human feeling or motivation.

http://www.hearts-ease.org/cgi-bin/termsn.cgi?data=library&l...

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Note added at 2003-05-04 10:41:46 (GMT)
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щодо ПЕРСОНІФІКАЦІЇ:

PATHETIC FALLACY
The ascribing of human traits or feelings to inanimate nature for eloquent effect, especially feelings in sympathy with those expressed or experienced by the writer, as a \"cruel wind,\" a \"pitiless storm,\" or the lines from Shelley\'s Adonais:
Pale Ocean in unquiet slumber lay,
And the Wild Winds flew round, sobbing in their dismay.
Sidelight: The term was coined in 1856 by John Ruskin, an English painter, art critic and essayist. While his intent was derogatory, the term is now applied in a neutral sense as a less formal type of personification.

PERSONIFICATION
A type of metaphor in which distinctive human characteristics, e.g., honesty, emotion, volition, etc., are attributed to an animal, object or idea, as \"The haughty lion surveyed his realm\" or \"My car was happy to be washed\" or \"\'Fate frowned on his endeavors.\" Personification is commonly used in allegory.

http://www.poeticbyway.com/gl-p.html#personification