Tamagotchi effect

The Tamagotchi effect is a term that refers to the development of emotional attachment with machines or robots or even software agents. It has been noticed that humans tend to attach emotionally to things which otherwise are not having any emotions. For example, there are instances when people feel emotional about using their car keys, or with virtual pets or now with Second Life.

It is more visible in fields which show parts of human behavior e.g. area of artificial intelligence and automated knowledge processing.

References

Throughout the web there are several articles talking about this effect -
* [http://www.starchamber.com/2003/12/the-tamagotchi-effect.html Blog Post - The Tamagotchi effect]
* [http://www.valentinzacharias.de/blog/2007/08/tamagotchi-effect.html Blog Post - The Tamagotchi-Effect]