Emotional prejudice, essentialism, and nationalism The 2002 Tajfel lecture

First impressions: Do faces with scars and palsies influence warmth, competence and humanization?

A glance is enough to assign psychological attributes to others. Attractiveness is associated with positive attributes ('beauty-is-good' stereotype). Here, we raise the question of a similar but negative bias. Are people with facial anomalies associated with negative personal characteristics? We hypothesized that biases against faces with anomalies arise because of negative stereotypes (less warmth and competence) and forms of dehumanization (animalistic and mechanistic). We enrolled 1493 mTurk participants (N = 1306 after exclusion) to assess 31 traits of photographed people using 60 pairs of photographs of the same person before and after plastic surgery. Half anomalous faces had a scar and the other half had a palsy. To calculate warmth and competence, we conducted a principal components analysis of the 31 attributes. Animalistic dehumanization was assessed by averaging reverse-scored ratings corresponding to moral sensibility and rationality/logic, and mechanistic dehumanization by averaging across reverse-scored ratings corresponding to emotional responsiveness and interpersonal warmth. We found that both kinds of anomalous faces were seen as less warm, competent and were dehumanized. Our findings suggest that an 'anomalous-is-bad' stereotype generalizes regardless of the aetiology of the anomaly. This effect may be related to a reverse halo effect, that is, the horn effect.

Attribution of undesirable character traits, rather than trait-based dehumanization, predicts punishment decisions

Previous work has reported that the extent to which participants dehumanized criminals by denying them uniquely human character traits such as refinement, rationality and morality predicted the severity of the punishment endorsed for them. We revisit this influential finding across six highly powered and pre-registered studies. First, we conceptually replicate the effect reported in previous work, demonstrating that our method is sensitive to detecting relationships between trait-based dehumanization and punishment should they occur. We then investigate whether the apparent relationship between trait-based dehumanization and punishment is driven by the desirability of the traits incorporated into the stimulus set, their perceived humanness, or both. To do this, we asked participants to rate the extent to which criminals possessed uniquely human traits that were either socially desirable (e.g. cultured and civilized) or socially undesirable (e.g. arrogant and bitter). Correlational and experimental evidence converge on the conclusion that apparent evidence for the relationship between trait-based dehumanization and punishment is better explained by the extent to which participants attribute socially desirable attributes to criminals rather than the extent to which they attribute uniquely human attributes. These studies cast doubt on the hypothesized causal relationship between trait-based dehumanization and harm, at least in this context.

Imagined otherness fuels blatant dehumanization of outgroups

Dehumanization of others has been attributed to institutional processes that spread dehumanizing norms and narratives, as well as to individuals' denial of mind to others. We propose that blatant dehumanization also arises when people actively contemplate others' minds. We introduce the construct of imagined otherness-perceiving that a prototypical member of a social group construes an important facet of the social world in ways that diverge from the way most humans understand it-and argue that such attributions catalyze blatant dehumanization beyond the effects of general perceived difference and group identification. Measuring perceived schematic difference relative to the concept of America, we examine how this measure relates to the tendency of U.S. Republicans and Democrats to blatantly dehumanize members of the other political party. We report the results of two pre-registered studies-one correlational (N = 771) and one experimental (N = 398)-that together lend support for our theory. We discuss implications of these findings for research on social boundaries, political polarization, and the measurement of meaning.

Too anthropomorphized to keep distance: The role of social psychological distance on meat inclinations

Keeping a distance from food animals helps alleviate moral conflicts associated with meat consumption. Prior research on the 'meat paradox' has shown that physical distance from animals reduces negative emotional responses when consuming meat. However, even with physical distance, the presence of animals in meat advertisements and packaging can establish psychological contact. The impact of psychological distance on meat consumption and purchase inclinations has not been well explored. Through four experiments, we discovered that animal anthropomorphism psychologically brings consumers closer to food animals, resulting in reduced intentions to consume and purchase meat. Anthropomorphized animal images notably reduced social psychological distance for consumers with moderate to high (vs. lower) levels of anthropomorphic tendencies. Furthermore, the effect of anthropomorphism was influenced by moral self-efficacy. Specifically, when social psychological distance was reduced, consumers with higher (vs. lower) moral self-efficacy exhibited a significant decrease in their willingness to consume and purchase meat. These findings expand our understanding of the role of anthropomorphism in meat marketing, its limitations, and offer insights for sales strategies. Additionally, the research could inform public health policies on meat consumption, addressing environmental and ethical concerns tied to meat production amid growing worries about animal welfare.

A Cross-Cultural Examination of Blatant and Subtle Dehumanization of Autistic People

PURPOSE

This cross-cultural study examined various domains of dehumanization, including both blatant (viewing autistic people as animal-like, child-like, or machine-like) and subtle (denying agency and experience capabilities) dehumanization, of autistic individuals by Koreans and Americans.

METHODS

A total of 404 Koreans and 229 Americans participated in an online survey, assessing blatant and subtle dehumanization, knowledge about autism, stigma toward and contact with autistic people, cultural factors, and demographic information. Robust linear mixed-effects regressions were conducted to examine the impact of the target group (autistic vs. non-autistic) and the country (South Korea vs. the US) on dehumanization. Additionally, correlations and multiple regressions were employed to identify individual variables associated with dehumanization.

RESULTS

Both Koreans and Americans exhibited more dehumanizing attitudes towards autistic individuals than non-autistic individuals across all domains. Koreans showed greater dehumanization of autistic individuals than Americans in all domains except for the machine-like domain. Stigma toward autistic people was associated with all dehumanization domains among Koreans and with some of the domains among Americans. Individual variables associated with dehumanization varied across countries and domains. Positive contact quality frequently predicted lower dehumanization in both cultures.

CONCLUSIONS

Non-autistic individuals consistently rated autistic people as less human than non-autistic people. Future research examining how autistic characteristics or societal perceptions that influence the consideration of an autistic person's humanness vary across cultures is needed. Implementing interventions aimed at enhancing non-autistic people's understanding of autistic individuals' agency and experience capabilities and promoting high-quality contact opportunities with autistic individuals may help reduce dehumanizing attitudes.

The theory of mind and human-robot trust repair

Nothing is perfect and robots can make as many mistakes as any human, which can lead to a decrease in trust in them. However, it is possible, for robots to repair a human's trust in them after they have made mistakes through various trust repair strategies such as apologies, denials, and promises. Presently, the efficacy of these trust repairs in the human-robot interaction literature has been mixed. One reason for this might be that humans have different perceptions of a robot's mind. For example, some repairs may be more effective when humans believe that robots are capable of experiencing emotion. Likewise, other repairs might be more effective when humans believe robots possess intentionality. A key element that determines these beliefs is mind perception. Therefore understanding how mind perception impacts trust repair may be vital to understanding trust repair in human-robot interaction. To investigate this, we conducted a study involving 400 participants recruited via Amazon Mechanical Turk to determine whether mind perception influenced the effectiveness of three distinct repair strategies. The study employed an online platform where the robot and participant worked in a warehouse to pick and load 10 boxes. The robot made three mistakes over the course of the task and employed either a promise, denial, or apology after each mistake. Participants then rated their trust in the robot before and after it made the mistake. Results of this study indicated that overall, individual differences in mind perception are vital considerations when seeking to implement effective apologies and denials between humans and robots.

Validation of the Organizational Dehumanization Scale in Spanish-Speaking Contexts

The objective of this study is to validate Caesens, Stinglhamber, and Demoulin's (2017) organizational dehumanization scale (ODS) in a Spanish-speaking sample. A sample of 422 employees (49.3% women and 50.7% men) from Chile answered an online questionnaire comprised of measures of organizational dehumanization and job satisfaction, organizational citizenship behaviors, and authentic leadership. To analyze the structure of the ODS, the sample was divided into two random subsamples and exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses were carried out. In addition, reliability and criterion validity were tested. As a result, the scale was composed of one factor. One item was eliminated due to its factor loading. The internal consistency was good (α = 0.92; ω = 0.92). The correlations between ODS, job satisfaction, organizational citizenship behaviors, and authentic leadership were statistically significant, from medium to high magnitude, indicating a reasonable degree of criterion validity. In conclusion, the Spanish version of the ODS shows adequate psychometric properties and can be useful for making progress on the understanding of organizational dehumanization and evaluating the organizational dehumanization in Spanish-speaking context.

Animalistic dehumanisation as a social influence strategy

The phenomenon of animalistic dehumanisation has been extensively studied in social psychology, but mostly as an intergroup relations tool used to justify the mistreatment of an outgroup. Surprisingly, however, dehumanisation has not been approached as an influence strategy to convince the ingroup to mistreat an outgroup. In the present article, we investigate these possible influence effects. We propose that a message depicting an outgroup in negative animalised terms would lead to lasting unfavourable outgroup attitudes because the animal essence conveyed through the message would immunise ingroup members against subsequent counterinfluence attempts. In one experimental study we compared the effect of three influence messages depicting a despised outgroup (Roma beggars) in negative animalised vs. negative humanised vs. positive humanised terms, followed by a counterpropaganda message advocating for Roma beggars' rights. Results show that the animalisation message leads to a lasting animalised perception of the outgroup (eliciting disgust and repugnancy) that resists exposure to the counterpropaganda positive message. In contrast, the negative humanisation message provokes a brief negative perception of the group (pre-counterpropaganda) that disappears after exposure to the counterpropaganda. The animalisation message also leads to more negative attitudes and discriminatory behavioural intentions towards Roma beggars expressed after the counterpropaganda message (i.e., discrimination in the workplace, hiring intentions, and social proximity), whilst the negative humanisation message does not, showing no difference with the positive humanisation message. These results suggest that animalistic dehumanisation indeed acts as an influence strategy, immunising targets against subsequent counterpropaganda attempts. We discuss implications in the light of essentialisation, forms of dehumanisation and group status, and current non-discriminatory norms.

Thou Shalt not Kill, Unless it is not a Human: Target Dehumanization May Influence Decision Difficulty and Response Patterns for Moral Dilemmas

Past research on moral dilemmas has thoroughly investigated the roles of personality and situational variables, but the role of targets in moral dilemmas has been relatively neglected. This article presents findings from four experiments that manipulated the perceived dehumanization of targets in moral dilemmas. Findings from Studies 1, 2, and 4 suggest that dehumanized targets may render the decision easier, and with less emotion. Findings from Studies 1 and 3, though not Studies 2 and 4, showed that dehumanization of targets in dilemmas may lead participants to make less deontological judgments. Findings from Study 3, but not Study 4, suggest that the effects of dehumanization manipulation on decision choices are potentially due to reduced deontological, but not utilitarian judgments. Though the patterns are somewhat inconsistent across the studies, overall, results suggest that targets' dehumanization can play a role in how people make their decisions in moral dilemmas.

To donate or not to donate? How cosmopolitanism and brand anthropomorphism influence donation intentions for international humanitarian causes

Purpose

There are vast opportunities for nonprofit organizations (NPOs) globally to find support for international humanitarian causes. However, donors/consumers are not always willing to contribute for such causes. This study aims to investigate how potential donor perceptions are shaped to gain wider support and aims to build a model that could guide managers of NPOs in their communication strategy.

Design/methodology/approach

Two scenario-based experiments with the participation of graduate students from an Indian university were conducted.

Findings

Cosmopolitan people have the higher moral judgment of the international causes championed by NPOs. However, anthropomorphizing the NPO’s message elevates the moral judgments among non-cosmopolitans. Process tests indicate that these moral judgments indirectly impact donation intentions for these causes.

Research limitations/implications

The paper only investigates donation intention for poverty and not humanitarian causes such as access to drinking water. Moreover, the campaign chosen takes place only in Africa (e.g. not in Asia or Latin America).

Practical implications

NPOs could tailor their marketing messages for international humanitarian causes by targeting cosmopolitan donors/consumers and using humanization as the branding strategy.

Originality/value

This research contributes to theory by showing how consumers who would otherwise not contribute to an out-group could be influenced positively by the NPOs’ branding strategy.

Cognition in moral space: A minimal model

We describe moral cognition as a process occurring in a distinctive cognitive space, wherein moral relationships are defined along several morally relevant dimensions. After identifying candidate dimensions, we show how moral judgments can emerge in this space directly from object perception, without any appeal to moral rules or abstract values. Our reductive "minimal model" (Batterman & Rice, 2014) elaborates Beal's (2020) claim that moral cognition is determined, at the most basic level, by "ontological frames" defining subjects, objects, and the proper relation between them. We expand this claim into a set of formal hypotheses that predict moral judgments based on how objects are "framed" in the relevant dimensions of "moral space."

No convincing evidence outgroups are denied uniquely human characteristics: Distinguishing intergroup preference from trait-based dehumanization

According to the dual model, outgroup members can be dehumanized by being thought to possess uniquely and characteristically human traits to a lesser extent than ingroup members. However, previous research on this topic has tended to investigate the attribution of human traits that are socially desirable in nature such as warmth, civility and rationality. As a result, it has not yet been possible to determine whether this form of dehumanization is distinct from intergroup preference and stereotyping. We first establish that participants associate undesirable (e.g., corrupt, jealous) as well as desirable (e.g., open-minded, generous) traits with humans. We then go on to show that participants tend to attribute desirable human traits more strongly to ingroup members but undesirable human traits more strongly to outgroup members. This pattern holds across three different intergroup contexts for which dehumanization effects have previously been reported: political opponents, immigrants and criminals. Taken together, these studies cast doubt on the claim that a trait-based account of representing others as ‘less human’ holds value in the study of intergroup bias.

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The dual model predicts outgroups are attributed human traits to a lesser extent.

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To date, predominantly desirable traits have been investigated, creating a confound.

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We test attributions of desirable and undesirable human traits to social groups.

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Attributions of undesirable human traits were stronger for outgroups than ingroups.

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We find no support for the predictions of the dual model of dehumanization.

Dehumanization During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Communities often unite during a crisis, though some cope by ascribing blame or stigmas to those who might be linked to distressing life events. In a preregistered two-wave survey, we evaluated the dehumanization of Asians and Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our first wave (March 26–April 2, 2020; N = 917) revealed dehumanization was prevalent, between 6.1% and 39% of our sample depending on measurement. Compared to non-dehumanizers, people who dehumanized also perceived the virus as less risky to human health and caused less severe consequences for infected people. They were more likely to be ideologically Conservative and believe in conspiracy theories about the virus. We largely replicated the results 1 month later in our second wave (May 6–May 13, 2020; N = 723). Together, many Americans dehumanize Asians and Asian Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic with related perceptions that the virus is less problematic. Implications and applications for dehumanization theory are discussed.

Early Childhood Antecedents of Dehumanization Perpetration in Adult Romantic Relationships

Data from the Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation (MLSRA) were utilized to provide the first investigation into the early childhood antecedents of dehumanization (i.e., treating another as less than human) in adult romantic relationships. Drawing on a sample of 109 MLSRA participants, multiple assessments of maternal care and empathy were collected during infancy and early childhood. In adulthood, MLSRA participants and their romantic partners engaged in video recorded conflict discussions in which dehumanization perpetration was coded. Maternal hostility was a significant and unique predictor of dehumanization perpetration. This longitudinal association remained even when controlling for the partner’s displays of dehumanization and several demographic covariates. This study provides the first evidence of early childhood antecedents of dehumanization and highlights how experiences during the first few years of life can have enduring downstream consequences for people’s romantic relationships 20–30 years later.

Why do children essentialize social groups?

The tendency to essentialize social groups is universal, and arises early in development. This tendency is associated with negative intergroup attitudes and behaviors, and has thus encouraged the search for remedies for the emergence of essentialism. In this vein, great attention has been devoted to uncovering the cognitive foundations of essentialism. In this chapter, I suggest that attention should also be turned toward the motivational foundations of essentialism. I propose that considerations of power and group identity, but especially a "need to belong," may encourage children's essentialization of social groups. Namely, from a young age, children are keen to feel members of a group, and that their membership is secure and exclusive. Essentialism is the conceptual gadget that satisfies these feelings. And to the extent that groups are defined by what they do, this motivated essentialism also impels children to be adamant about the maintenance of unique group behaviors.

Social, psychological, and demographic characteristics of dehumanization toward immigrants

This study extends the current body of work on dehumanization by evaluating the social, psychological, and demographic correlates of blatant disregard for immigrants. Participants (n = 468) were randomly assigned to read a scenario where 1) an immigrant or 2) an immigrant and their child were caught illegally crossing the southern border of the United States, and then rated how long they should spend in jail if convicted. Participants reported that they would sentence the immigrant to more jail time than the immigrant and child. Those who sent immigrants to jail for more time also viewed them as socially distant and less human, described immigration in impersonal terms, and endorsed other social harms unrelated to immigration (e.g., the death penalty for convicted murderers). Crucially, endorsed social harms accounted for explained variance beyond simply holding conservative views. We position these data within the current literature on dehumanization theory and immigration issues.

What Are the Irreducible Basic Elements of Morality? A Critique of the Debate Over Monism and Pluralism in Moral Psychology

The debate between monists and pluralists in moral psychology has been framed as an argument over the number of “irreducible basic elements” that can be used to describe the extent of the moral domain: Do all moral values ultimately reduce to one principle (i.e., monism), or are there multiple irreducibly distinct moral values (i.e., pluralism)? I critique the premise of this debate, arguing that the breadth of the moral domain cannot be adequately represented, understood, or explained in terms of moral values. Instead, an adequate account of moral psychology must explain moral phenomena in terms of more basic elements: ontological frames.

Stereotypes, emotions, and behaviors associated with animals: A causal test of the stereotype content model and BIAS map

Using the stereotype content model (SCM; Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, & Xu, 2002) and the behaviors from intergroup affect and stereotypes (BIAS) map (Cuddy, Fiske, & Glick, 2007), two experiments tested the effect of animal stereotypes on emotions and behavioral tendencies toward animals. As a novel approach, Study 1 ( N = 165) manipulated warmth and competence traits of a fictitious animal species (“wallons”) and tested their effect on emotions and behaviors toward those animals. Stereotypical warm-competent and cold-incompetent “wallons” elicited fondness/delight and contempt/disgust, respectively. Cold-competent “wallons” primarily elicited threat but not awe. Warm-incompetent “wallons” were elusive targets, not eliciting specific emotions. The warmth dimension determined active behaviors, promoting facilitation (support/help) and reducing harm (kill/trap). The competence dimension determined passive behaviors, eliciting facilitation (conserve/monitor) and reducing harm (ignore/let them die off). Study 2 ( N = 112) tested the relation between animal stereotypes for 25 species and realistic scenarios concerning behavioral tendencies toward animals. Similar to Study 1, stereotypically warm (vs. cold) animals matched with active scenarios, eliciting more facilitation (i.e., national health campaign) but less harm (i.e., fighting animals). Stereotypically competent (vs. incompetent) animals matched with passive scenarios, eliciting more facilitation (i.e., restricted areas) but less harm (i.e., accidental mortality). Accordingly, stereotypes limited the suitability of scenarios toward animals. Although findings are consistent with the SCM/BIAS map framework, several unpredicted results emerged. The mixed support is discussed in detail, along with the implications of an intergroup approach to animals.

The Perception of Instability and Legitimacy of Status Differences Enhances the Infrahumanization Bias among High Status Groups

Previous research within the social identity framework has shown that perceptions of legitimacy and stability of status differences interactively determine cognitive, emotional, and behavioural responses to intergroup contexts. Whether such perceptions affect subtle forms of prejudice, namely infrahumanisation, is unknown. We examined if the perceptions regarding high status stability and legitimacy are associated to the infrahumanisation bias. We hypothesized that participants perceiving status differences as unstable and legitimate would report higher levels of infrahumanization than those who perceive status differences as stable and/or illegitimate. Participants (N = 439 Italian students enrolled in psychology courses) completed a structured paper-and-pencil questionnaire. We found that participants tended to attribute more negative secondary emotions to their ingroup (Italians) than to the outgroup (immigrants from Africa), indicating the presence of an infrahumanization bias. The results of a moderated regression aimed at predicting infrahumanization showed that high-status group members who perceived status differences as legitimate and unstable reported higher levels of infrahumanization than their counterparts did. The results attest the important and independent role of the perceptions related to the status for the debate on intergroup relations.

Humanization of critical care-psychological effects on healthcare professionals and relatives: a systematic review

PURPOSE

To systematically review and evaluate the effects of humanized care of the critically ill on empathy among healthcare professionals, anxiety among relatives, and burnout and compassion fatigue in both groups.

SOURCE

MEDLINE, PsycINFO, EMBASE, CINAHL, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), and ProQuest Dissertations were searched from inception to 29 June 2017 for studies that investigated the effects of interventions with potential to humanize care of the critically ill on the following outcomes: empathy among critical care professionals, anxiety among relatives, and burnout and compassion fatigue in either group. We defined a humanizing intervention as one with substantial potential to increase physical or emotional proximity to the patient. Two reviewers independently selected studies, extracted data, and assessed risk of bias and data quality.

PRINCIPAL FINDINGS

Twelve studies addressing four discrete interventions (liberal visitation, diaries, family participation in basic care, and witnessed resuscitation) and one mixed intervention were included. Ten studies measured anxiety among 1,055 relatives. Two studies measured burnout in 288 critical care professionals. None addressed empathy or compassion fatigue. Eleven of the included studies had an overall high risk of bias. No pooled estimates of effect were calculated as a priori criteria for data synthesis were not met.

CONCLUSIONS

We found insufficient evidence to make any quantitative assessment of the effect of humanizing interventions on any of these psychologic outcomes. We observed a trend towards reduced anxiety among family members who participated in basic patient care, liberal visitation, and diary keeping. We found conflicting effects of liberal visitation on burnout among healthcare professionals.

Endorsing a Civic (vs. an Ethnic) Definition of Citizenship Predicts Higher Pro-minority and Lower Pro-majority Collective Action Intentions

Europe has witnessed a polarization of intergroup attitudes and action tendencies in the context of the refugee crisis of 2015 and the rise of right-wing populism. Participation in both pro-minority collective action and right-wing nationalist movements has increased among members of ethnic majority groups. We analyzed these collective action intentions toward Roma people and Muslim immigrants in Hungary related to concepts of citizenship. In an online survey relying on a probabilistic sample that is demographically similar to the Hungarian population (N = 1069), we tested whether relying on the concept of ethnic citizenship predicted higher intentions to engage in pro-majority collective action, and lower intentions to engage in pro-minority collective action, and whether the connection was mediated by fear and empathy. We expected that the connections would be the opposite for civic citizenship. Our results supported the hypotheses, but we found that the ethnic definition was a stronger predictor of intergroup action intentions toward the immigrant group, and the civic definition a stronger predictor in case of the Roma minority group. In a second study (N = 320) we collected experimental evidence to show that civic and ethnic citizenship affected both types of collective action tendencies. We found that the manipulation had an effect on the concept of citizenship only in the ethnic dimension. Nevertheless, it influenced pro-minority collective action intentions especially in the presence of high empathy and low fear in the expected direction, that is, pro-minority collective action intentions were higher in the civic citizenship condition than in the ethnic citizenship condition. The effect was not found with regard to pro-majority collective action intentions. These findings highlight the potential consequences of nationalist rhetoric on intergroup action intentions and point out both the scope and the limits of influencing its effect.

Putting race in context: social class modulates processing of race in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and amygdala

A growing body of literature demonstrates that racial group membership can influence neural responses, e.g. when individuals perceive or interact with persons of another race. However, little attention has been paid to social class, a factor that interacts with racial inequalities in American society. We extend previous literature on race-related neural activity by focusing on how the human brain responds to racial out-groups cast in positively valued social class positions vs less valued ones. We predicted that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and the amygdala would have functionally dissociable roles, with the vmPFC playing a more significant role within socially valued in-groups (i.e. the middle-class) and the amygdala having a more crucial role for socially ambivalent and threatening categories (i.e. upper and lower class). We tested these predictions with two complementary studies: (i) a neuropsychological experiment with patients with the vmPFC or amygdala lesions, contrasted with brain damaged and normal comparison participants, and (ii) a functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment with 15 healthy adults. Our findings suggest that two distinct mechanisms underlie class-based racial evaluations, one engaging the vmPFC for positively identified in-group class and another recruiting the amygdala for the class groups that are marginalized or perceived as potential threats.

Perceived threat to national values in evaluating stereotyped immigrants

The present research examined the psychological reasons behind Americans' (un)willingness to accept immigrants. Participants read a scenario depicting immigrant groups allegedly expected to arrive in the United States and evaluated how much the immigrants would influence two types of American national values: civic values (e.g., political ideology) and ethnic values (e.g., shared culture and customs). Across three studies, competitive immigrant groups were stereotyped to be untrustworthy and perceived to threaten American civic values, but not ethnic values. Value threat then mediated the predicted competition-prejudice relationship in Study 3. Perceived vulnerability of in-group boundary might specify one motivated cause of derogating immigrants.

Overcorrection for Social-Categorization Information Moderates Impact Bias in Affective Forecasting

Plural societies require individuals to forecast how others—both in-group and out-group members—will respond to gains and setbacks. Typically, correcting affective forecasts to include more relevant information improves their accuracy by reducing their extremity. In contrast, we found that providing affective forecasters with social-category information about their targets made their forecasts more extreme and therefore less accurate. In both political and sports contexts, forecasters across five experiments exhibited greater impact bias for both in-group and out-group members (e.g., a Democrat or Republican) than for unspecified targets when predicting experiencers’ responses to positive and negative events. Inducing time pressure reduced the extremity of forecasts for group-labeled but not unspecified targets, which suggests that the increased impact bias was due to overcorrection for social-category information, not different intuitive predictions for identified targets. Finally, overcorrection was better accounted for by stereotypes than by spontaneous retrieval of extreme group exemplars.

Intergroup emotional similarity reduces dehumanization and promotes conciliatory attitudes in prolonged conflict

Creating a sense of interpersonal similarity of attitudes and values is associated with increased attraction and liking. Applying these findings in an intergroup setting, though, has yielded mixed support. Theorizing from a social identity perspective suggests that highlighting intergroup similarity may lead to increased antipathy to the extent that it is perceived as a threat to one’s unique social identity. To circumvent this process, we examine the influence of emotional similarity, rather than attitudinal or value similarity, with the expectation that the short-term nature of emotions may evoke less threat to one’s social identity. Moreover, given the importance of emotions in intergroup humanization processes, we expected that emotional similarity would be associated with greater conciliatory attitudes due to an increase in humanization of the outgroup. We report results from two studies supporting these predictions. Following exposure to an anger-eliciting news story, Jewish Israeli participants were given information that their own emotional reaction to the story was similar (or not) to an individual member of the outgroup (Study 1: Palestinian citizen of Israel) or the outgroup as a whole (Study 2: Palestinians of the West Bank). As predicted, emotional similarity was associated with increased humanization of the outgroup, and a subsequent increase in one’s willingness to support conciliatory political policies toward the outgroup. We conclude that emotional similarity may be a productive avenue for future intergroup interventions, particularly between groups where differences in attitudes and values are foundational to the intergroup conflict.

Humanizing the Self: Moderators of the Attribution of Lesser Humanness to Others

Three studies investigated moderators of the tendency to attribute greater humanness to the self than to others, an interpersonal counterpart of outgroup infra-humanization. Study 1 demonstrated that this self-humanizing effect is reduced when the other is the focus of comparison. Study 2 showed that the effect is reduced when the other is individuated. Study 3 indicated that empathy does not moderate self-humanizing: Self-humanizing failed to correlate negatively with dispositional empathy or perspective-taking. Study 3 also indicated that abstract construal moderates the self-humanizing effect using a temporal comparison. Participants rated their future self, but not their past self, as less human than their present self. Studies 1 and 3 also showed that self-humanizing is greater for undesirable traits: People may view their failings as “only human.” All findings were distinct from those attributable to self-enhancement. Self-humanizing may reflect a combination of egocentrism, focalism, abstract representation of others, and motivated processes.

Animals as Social Objects

Abstract. Nonhuman animals are typically excluded from the scope of social psychology. This article presents animals as social objects – targets of human social responses – overviewing the similarities and differences with human targets. The focus here is on perceiving animal species as social groups. Reflecting the two fundamental dimensions of humans’ social cognition – perceived warmth (benign or ill intent) and competence (high or low ability), proposed within the Stereotype Content Model ( Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, & Xu, 2002 ) – animal stereotypes are identified, together with associated prejudices and behavioral tendencies. In line with human intergroup threats, both realistic and symbolic threats associated with animals are reviewed. As a whole, animals appear to be social perception targets within the human sphere of influence and a valid topic for research.

Attribution of human characteristics and bullying involvement in childhood: Distinguishing between targets

This investigation researched the association between the attribution of human characteristics and bullying involvement in children by distinguishing between targets. Study 1 focused on the attribution of human characteristics by bullies, victims, bully/victims, and non-involved children toward friends and non-friends. The data from 405 children (M = 10.7 years old) showed that they attributed fewer prosocial and more antisocial human characteristics to non-friends than to friends. Moreover, boy victims attributed fewer prosocial human characteristics to non-friends than boy bullies and non-involved boys did. In addition, victims attributed more antisocial human characteristics to non-friends than non-involved children did. Study 2 addressed bullies', victims', bully/victims', and non-involved children's attribution of human characteristics to each other. The data of 264 children (M = 10.0 years old) showed that bullies, victims, and bully/victims attributed fewer prosocial and more antisocial human characteristics to each other than to non-involved children. Non-involved children attributed fewer prosocial human characteristics to bully/victims than to bullies and victims, and more antisocial human characteristics to bully/victims than to victims. In addition, girls attributed more prosocial and fewer antisocial human characteristics to girls than to boys, whereas boys did not distinguish between girls and boys. Based on these findings, suggestions for future research are provided and implications for bullying prevention and intervention are discussed. Aggr. Behav. 42:394-403, 2016. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

How do different humanness measures relate? Confronting the attribution of secondary emotions, human uniqueness, and human nature traits

The present research examines the relationship between the infrahumanization approach and the two-dimensional model of humanness: an issue that has received very little empirical attention. In Study 1, we created three unknown groups (Humanized, Animalized, and Mechanized) granting/denying them Human Nature (HN) and Human Uniqueness (HU) traits. The attribution of primary/secondary emotions was measured. As expected, participants attributed more secondary emotions to the humanized compared to dehumanized groups. Importantly, both animalized and mechanized groups were attributed similar amounts of secondary emotions. In Study 2, the groups were described in terms of their capacity to express secondary emotions. We measured the attribution of HN/HU traits. Results showed that the infrahumanized group was denied both HU/HN traits. The results highlight the importance of considering the common aspects of both approaches in understanding processes of dehumanization.

Humanizing Outgroups Through Multiple Categorization: The Roles of Individuation and Threat

In three studies, we examined the impact of multiple categorization on intergroup dehumanization. Study 1 showed that perceiving members of a rival university along multiple versus simple categorical dimensions enhanced the tendency to attribute human traits to this group. Study 2 showed that multiple versus simple categorization of immigrants increased the attribution of uniquely human emotions to them. This effect was explained by the sequential mediation of increased individuation of the outgroup and reduced outgroup threat. Study 3 replicated this sequential mediation model and introduced a novel way of measuring humanization in which participants generated attributes corresponding to the outgroup in a free response format. Participants generated more uniquely human traits in the multiple versus simple categorization conditions. We discuss the theoretical implications of these findings and consider their role in informing and improving efforts to ameliorate contemporary forms of intergroup discrimination.

A desumanização Presente nos Estereótipos de Índios e Ciganos

RESUMO Analisamos, em dois estudos realizados em Sergipe e Alagoas, a desumanização de duas minorias étnicas: índios e ciganos. Participaram 678 não indígenas de ambos os sexos. No primeiro estudo, foram 378 moradores de cinco cidades de Sergipe e uma de Alagoas, dos quais 104 viviam perto da única tribo indígena do estado de Sergipe. No segundo, participaram 300 não-ciganos, dos quais 153 viviam perto de comunidades ciganas. Realizaram-se entrevistas individuais sobre as representações sociais e crenças coletivas acerca de ciganos e índios. Verificamos que os índios são representados como exóticos e invisíveis, predominando crenças coletivas neutras ou de exclusão moral. Quanto aos ciganos, o processo de desumanização foi mais flagrante, predominando a exclusão moral e a deslegitimação.

The Face of Humanity

Across three studies, we test the hypothesis that the perceived “humanness” of a human face can have its roots, in part, in low-level, feature-integration processes typical of normal face perception—configural face processing. We provide novel evidence that perceptions of humanness/dehumanization can have perceptual roots. Relying on the well-established face inversion paradigm, we demonstrate that disruptions of configural face processing also disrupt the ability of human faces to activate concepts related to humanness (Experiment 1), disrupt categorization of human faces as human (but not animal faces as animals; Experiment 2), and reduce the levels of humanlike traits and characteristics ascribed to faces (Experiment 3). Taken together, the current findings provide a novel demonstration that dehumanized responses can arise from bottom-up perceptual cues, which suggests novel causes and consequences of dehumanizing responses.

Essentialism promotes children's inter-ethnic bias

The present study investigated the developmental foundation of the relation between social essentialism and attitudes. Forty-eight Jewish Israeli secular 6-year-olds were exposed to either a story emphasizing essentialism about ethnicity, or stories controlling for the salience of ethnicity or essentialism per se. After listening to a story, children's attitudes were assessed in a drawing and in an IAT task. Compared to the control conditions, children in the ethnic essentialism condition drew a Jewish and an Arab character as farther apart from each other, and the Jewish character with a more positive affect than the Arab character. Moreover, boys in the ethnic essentialism condition manifested a stronger bias in the IAT. These findings reveal an early link between essentialism and inter-group attitudes.

Dehumanization in Medicine: Causes, Solutions, and Functions

Dehumanization is endemic in medical practice. This article discusses the psychology of dehumanization resulting from inherent features of medical settings, the doctor-patient relationship, and the deployment of routine clinical practices. First, we identify six major causes of dehumanization in medical settings (deindividuating practices, impaired patient agency, dissimilarity, mechanization, empathy reduction, and moral disengagement). Next, we propose six fixes for these problems (individuation, agency reorientation, promoting similarity, personification and humanizing procedures, empathic balance and physician selection, and moral engagement). Finally, we discuss when dehumanization in medical practice is potentially functional and when it is not. Appreciating the multiple psychological causes of dehumanization in hospitals allows for a deeper understanding of how to diminish detrimental instances of dehumanization in the medical environment.

Who Sees Human? The Stability and Importance of Individual Differences in Anthropomorphism

Anthropomorphism is a far-reaching phenomenon that incorporates ideas from social psychology, cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, and the neurosciences. Although commonly considered to be a relatively universal phenomenon with only limited importance in modern industrialized societies-more cute than critical-our research suggests precisely the opposite. In particular, we provide a measure of stable individual differences in anthropomorphism that predicts three important consequences for everyday life. This research demonstrates that individual differences in anthropomorphism predict the degree of moral care and concern afforded to an agent, the amount of responsibility and trust placed on an agent, and the extent to which an agent serves as a source of social influence on the self. These consequences have implications for disciplines outside of psychology including human-computer interaction, business (marketing and finance), and law. Concluding discussion addresses how understanding anthropomorphism not only informs the burgeoning study of nonpersons, but how it informs classic issues underlying person perception as well.

From political opponents to enemies? The role of perceived moral distance in the animalistic dehumanization of the political outgroup

In this paper, we analyzed the relationships among political identity, the perception of moral distance between the political ingroup and the political outgroup, and outgroup animalistic dehumanization. One correlational and one experimental study revealed a positive correlation of ingroup identification (Study 1, N = 99) and salience of ingroup membership (Study 2, N = 96) with the degree to which participants dehumanized the outgroup. This relationship was mediated by the perceived moral distance between the ingroup and the outgroup. The limitations, implications, and possible developments derived from the present findings are discussed.

Societal Norms Rather Than Sexual Orientation Influence Kin Altruism and Avuncularity in Tribal Urak-Lawoi, Italian, and Spanish Adult Males

Homosexual males could balance their low fitness by increasing benefits to relatives either through kin-directed altruism or by avuncularity (altruistic behavior toward the children of siblings). Evidence in support of kin selection and avuncularity includes the fact that homosexuals seem to be more empathic and altruistic than heterosexuals. Other studies have not confirmed behaviors that increase kin altruism in homosexuals. We explored altruistic behavior and avuncularity in a sample of 278 subjects, either homosexual or heterosexual, from three populations: Italian, Spanish, and Urak-Lawoi, a Southeast Asian tribal population. Among the Urak-Lawoi, the kathoeys, androphilic men who dress and behave as women, were compared with heterosexuals. All populations were rated for societal norms on the expression of affiliative behavior. No greater kin altruism or avuncularity among the kathoeys or in homosexuals in either Mediterranean population was found. Greater avuncularity and kin-directed altruism, independent of sexual orientation, were found among the Urak-Lawoi, and these traits were the least prevalent among the Italians, corresponding to different societal norms. The increase in kin altruism and avuncularity was associated in all males with societal differences and norms on general altruism toward nonkin children, suggesting it is not an adaptive design to maintain homosexuality in humans.