What is a Puppet?

How Puppets Affect the Human Psyche

There are many reasons why people are drawn to puppets (and we will explore each one in time), but we would like to start by looking at puppets and how they interact with the human psyche.

The Natural Need to Attribute Human Qualities to Objects

I believe that puppets likely originated when someone needed to tell their story, perhaps about hunting animals, and used simple objects like stones or sticks to represent the animals and hunters. However, these shapeless objects could be confusing, so people started transforming them into the shapes of people or animals. Incidentally, this tendency to attribute human characteristics to inanimate objects is an ancient human impulse. How many people do you know who, for example, name their car or assign human qualities to various talismans? This is known in scientific terms as anthropomorphism.

Shamans and the Magic of Animation

What truly draws puppeteers and audiences alike into the world of puppet magic is the ability to transfer consciousness or a part of oneself into the puppet. In psychology, this process is known as externalization. A puppet allows for a unique expression of inner thoughts, feelings, and experiences that can feel incredibly real. This experience is so powerful and fascinating that it can transform a person into a puppeteer—an animator.

Throughout history, this phenomenon has been widely used in religious rituals. Shamans in many cultures used puppets or figurines as intermediaries to establish contact with spirits, deities, or natural forces. In Christianity, puppets have traditionally been used in folk theatre plays to tell biblical stories and to spread Christian teachings, especially during the Middle Ages. For example, in Italy, Marian puppets (puppets representing the Virgin Mary) were used during religious festivities and gave marionette puppets its name.

The Difference Between a Puppet and a Doll

Puppets and dolls are very similar, but the main difference lies in their use. A puppet is designed for animation and manipulation, allowing the storyteller or actor to “breathe life” into the character the puppet represents. If you take a doll and start telling a story with it, animating it and communicating through it, it becomes a puppet. On the other hand, if you use the doll solely as an object for interaction (such as for play or collecting), it remains a doll. This principle can also apply to masks: if you use a mask to become someone else, it is a similar process to that of a puppet.

Dolls are usually talked to by the child and maybe asked questions. The child can ‘role-reverse’ and answer himself ‘as if’ he is the doll (as we get older, we do this in our minds).

Puppets are objects through which people communicate with someone else, such as a teacher, a friend, an audience, or a therapist. Puppets can move their limbs and sometimes other features like their eyes or mouth. Puppets can also talk to each other: a puppeteer may have a puppet in each hand, or two people may each have a puppet.

Masks are like puppets that we wear – instead of talking through the puppet – we take on the character of the mask. Differences between masks and puppets are reduced when we have paper plate puppets that we can hold close to our faces. The broomstick puppets are almost like the masks, as we hold them in front of ourselves.

Puppetry is an incredibly broad field, with endless possibilities. I would love to introduce you to several other topics we could explore in the upcoming episodes of this series:

Puppets in Therapy: How puppets are used in psychotherapeutic practice to express emotions and address trauma.

Types of Puppets: Different kinds of puppets (marionettes, hand puppets, shadow puppets, rod puppets) and their specific features.

Puppets as Corporate Mascots: How companies use puppets and mascots for marketing and communication purposes