From women to objects: Appearance focus, target gender, and perceptions of warmth, morality and competence

When sex doesn't sell: using sexualized images of women reduces support for ethical campaigns

Images of scantily clad women are used by advertisers to make products more attractive to men. This “sex sells” approach is increasingly employed to promote ethical causes, most prominently by the animal-rights organization PETA. Yet sexualized images can dehumanize women, leaving an unresolved paradox – is it effective to advertise an ethical cause using unethical means? In Study 1, a sample of Australian male undergraduates (N = 82) viewed PETA advertisements containing either sexualized or non-sexualized images of women. Intentions to support the ethical organization were reduced for those exposed to the sexualized advertising, and this was explained by their dehumanization of the sexualized women, and not by increased arousal. Study 2 used a mixed-gender community sample from the United States (N = 280), replicating this finding and extending it by showing that behaviors helpful to the ethical cause diminished after viewing the sexualized advertisements, which was again mediated by the dehumanization of the women depicted. Alternative explanations relating to the reduced credibility of the sexualized women and their objectification were not supported. When promoting ethical causes, organizations may benefit from using advertising strategies that do not dehumanize women.

Body Language

With the current studies, we aimed to improve body satisfaction by inducing a functionality-based focus on the body. Objectification theory was used as a guiding framework for this approach. In Study 1, 59 female and 59 male undergraduates and, in Study 2, 118 women between the ages of 30 and 50 years completed a writing assignment to experimentally manipulate their body focus. The writing assignment instructions were to describe what one’s body can do (functionality focus) or what one’s body looks like (appearance focus); a control writing task was also included. Functionality and appearance satisfaction, as well as global self-esteem, were measured at baseline, on test-day, and at a 1-week follow-up. In Study 1, male undergraduates in the functionality condition experienced an increase in functionality satisfaction from baseline to test-day; female undergraduates in the appearance condition experienced a decrease in functionality satisfaction both from baseline to test-day and from baseline to follow-up. In Study 2, women in the functionality condition experienced an increase in functionality satisfaction from baseline to follow-up. The current studies are the first known to experimentally manipulate the functionality-based approach to the body and to investigate its effects on body image—serving to suggest perceived functionality as a potentially fruitful focus for further research and intervention.

Comparing group dehumanization and intra-sexual competition among normally ovulating women and hormonal contraceptive users

Two studies address the role of hormonal shift across menstrual cycle in female dehumanization of other women. In Study 1, normally ovulating women (NOW) and women who use hormonal contraceptives (HCW) are compared in terms of how much they dehumanize other women and two other control targets (men and elderly people). In NOW, the level of dehumanization of other women, but not of men and elderly people, increases as the conception risk is enhanced. HCW do not show this pattern of results. In Study 2, we investigate the level of dehumanization of other women and of intra-sexual competition. Findings concerning dehumanization replicate those of Study 1. Intra-sexual competition increases with the rise of conception risk only in NOW. In addition, dehumanization is significantly associated with intra-sexual competition in NOW but not in HCW. Together, these studies demonstrate that dehumanization of women is elicited by menstrual cycle-related processes and associated with women's mate-attraction goals.

Dehumanization and infrahumanization

We review early and recent psychological theories of dehumanization and survey the burgeoning empirical literature, focusing on six fundamental questions. First, we examine how people are dehumanized, exploring the range of ways in which perceptions of lesser humanness have been conceptualized and demonstrated. Second, we review who is dehumanized, examining the social targets that have been shown to be denied humanness and commonalities among them. Third, we investigate who dehumanizes, notably the personality, ideological, and other individual differences that increase the propensity to see others as less than human. Fourth, we explore when people dehumanize, focusing on transient situational and motivational factors that promote dehumanizing perceptions. Fifth, we examine the consequences of dehumanization, emphasizing its implications for prosocial and antisocial behavior and for moral judgment. Finally, we ask what can be done to reduce dehumanization. We conclude with a discussion of limitations of current scholarship and directions for future research.

Sexual Objectification Increases Rape Victim Blame and Decreases Perceived Suffering

Sexual objectification changes the way people view women by reducing them to sexual objects—denied humanity and an internal mental life, as well as deemed unworthy of moral concern. However, the subsequent consequences of sexually objectifying others remain underresearched. In the current study, we examined the impact of objectification in the domain of sexual assault. Sixty British undergraduate students were recruited to complete an impression formation task. We manipulated objectification by presenting participants with either a sexualized or nonsexualized woman. Participants rated the woman’s mind and the extent to which they felt moral concern for her. They then learned that she was the victim of an acquaintance rape and reported victim blame and both blatant and subtle perceptions of her suffering. Consistent with prior research, sexualized women were objectified through a denial of mental states and moral concern. Further, compared with nonobjectified women, the objectified were perceived to be more responsible for being raped. Interestingly, although no difference emerged for blatant measures of suffering, participants tacitly denied the victims’ suffering by exhibiting changes in moral concern for the victim. We conclude that objectification has important consequences for how people view victims of sexual assault. Our findings reveal that sexual objectification can have serious consequences and we discuss how these might influence how victims cope and recover from sexual assault.

Worth the Weight

Although the negative ramifications of others objectifying the female body are well established, little research has examined whether certain portrayals of women are more susceptible to being objectified. The present study sought to examine the effect of two target characteristics—body size and clothing style—on objectification. One hundred and ninety-one Australian undergraduate participants (95 female; Mage = 19.35 years) viewed either an image of an overweight woman or a thin woman, who was either dressed in plain clothes or lingerie. Participants then completed three tasks measuring their objectification of the woman to include attributions of mind, attributions of moral status, and a dot probe task assessing attention towards the target’s body relative to the face. Results indicate that overweight women, as well as those dressed in plain clothing, were attributed more agentic mental states and moral value, as well as elicited less of the objectifying gaze, than thin targets and those wearing lingerie. These findings suggest that contrary to popular opinion, there may be unforeseen benefits of being overweight.

Toward a unified theory of objectification and dehumanization

Objectification and dehumanization represent motivational conundrums because they are phenomena in which people are seen in ways that are fundamentally inaccurate; seeing people as objects, as animals, or not as people. The purpose of the 60th Nebraska Symposium on Motivation was to examine the motivational underpinnings of objectification and dehumanization of the self and others. To provide an overall context for this volume, we first provide classic conceptualizations of objectification and dehumanization and speculate about relations between the two. We then introduce a unified theory of objectification and dehumanization within the global versus local processing model (GLOMO) and provide initial supporting evidence. Finally, we introduce the chapters in this volume, which provide additional significant and novel motivational perspectives on objectification and dehumanization.

Immortal objects: the objectification of women as terror management

Philosophical theorizing, research on self-objectification, and the newest empirical research on the objectification of others converge to support the notion that the objectification of women entails rendering women, quite literally, as objects. This chapter begins with a review of this literature and then moves onto the question of why women are viewed as objects. The answer offered is informed by terror management theory, and suggests that the need to manage a fear of death creates a fundamental problem with the physical body, and such difficulties resonate especially in reaction to women's--menstruating, lactating, childbearing--bodies, and men's attraction to them. Evidence is presented to support this, and for the position that this situation plays a role in, not just expectations for women to be beautiful, but in the literal transformation of women into inanimate--immortal--objects.

Of animals and objects: men's implicit dehumanization of women and likelihood of sexual aggression

Although dehumanizing women and male sexual aggression are theoretically aligned, the present research provides the first direct support for this assumption, using the Implicit Association Test to assess two forms of female dehumanization: animalization and objectification. In Study 1, men who automatically associated women more than men with primitive constructs (e.g., animals, instinct, nature) were more willing to rape and sexually harass women, and to report negative attitudes toward female rape victims. In Study 2, men who automatically associated women with animals (e.g., animals, paw, snout) more than with humans scored higher on a rape-behavioral analogue, as well as rape proclivity. Automatically objectifying women by associating them with objects, tools, and things was also positively correlated with men's rape proclivity. In concert, the research demonstrates that men who implicitly dehumanize women (as either animals or objects) are also likely to sexually victimize them.