The effect of objectification on aggression

Watching for a snake in the grass: Objectification increases conspiracy beliefs

Objectification, being treated as a tool to achieve someone's instrumental goals, is a common phenomenon. A workplace supervisor may view employees solely in terms of their output; likewise, friends may be seen only for their potential for personal and social advancement. We conducted five studies (N = 1209) to test whether objectification increases conspiracy beliefs through thwarted trust and whether postobjectification increases in conspiracy beliefs carry behavioural implications. While conspiracy beliefs may have evolved as a strategy for survival, they may be considered maladaptive in the modern world. Therefore, understanding the antecedents, underlying mechanisms, and implications of conspiracy beliefs is essential. We measured (Study 1) and manipulated objectification (Studies 2-5), consistently finding that objectification decreased trust, thereby increasing conspiracy beliefs (Studies 1-5). This effect remained after considering negative emotions (Study 2). Increased conspiracy beliefs following objectification positively predicted unethical tendencies, and the effect of objectification on unethical tendencies was serially mediated by trust and conspiracy beliefs (Study 4). Restoring objectified people's trust weakened their conspiracy beliefs and unethical tendencies (Study 5). We discussed the implications of our findings, proposing directions for researchers, practitioners, managers, and policymakers for theoretical advancement, healthier coping, and promotion of well-being.

Does parental use of harsh discipline and punishment in response to ambiguous child situations vary by child physical abuse risk?

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES

The present study investigated the extent to which fathers and mothers at high-risk and low-risk for child physical abuse (CPA) differed in their use of harsh discipline and punishment when presented ambiguous child situations (situations where differences in positive and negative valences are close to zero).

PARTICIPANTS/METHODS

High-risk for CPA parents (N = 74: fathers, n = 41; mothers, n = 33) and low-risk parents (N = 178: fathers, n = 91; mothers, n = 87) were asked to indicate their likelihood of using harsh verbal discipline (HVD), harsh physical discipline (HPD), and punishment (i.e., retributive harm separate from HVD and HPD) after viewing each of eighteen ambiguous child situations.

RESULTS

As expected, high-risk, compared to low-risk, for CPA parents were significantly (ps < 0.001) more likely to use HVD (d = 0.546), HPD (d = 0.595), and punishment (d = 0.564). Overall, fathers, relative to mothers, were significantly more likely to use HVD (d = 0.261) and HPD (d = 0.238). For punishment, however, there was no significant parental role (father, mother) difference (d = 0.136).

CONCLUSIONS

Since in everyday living situations many child behaviors are ambiguous, the findings that parents, especially high-risk for CPA parents, use harsh discipline and punishment when encountering ambiguous child situations suggest that non-contingent harsh child-related parental behaviors may be frequent in the lives of some children. The findings that parents may use non-contingent discipline and punishment suggest the need to explore whether, when these parenting behaviors occur, they increase the likelihood of negative child outcomes.

The Effect of Bystander Features on Displaced Aggression in Provocative Situations among Male Juvenile Delinquents

Two studies were conducted to explore the influence of bystander features of displaced aggression in provocative situations among male juvenile delinquents. Study 1 examined the differences in displaced aggression between provoked male juvenile delinquents in the presence or absence of bystanders. The results revealed that provoked male juvenile delinquents exhibited significantly higher levels of displaced aggression when bystanders were present compared to when they were not. Study 2 further manipulated the bystanders' trigger level and investigated the differences in displaced aggression exhibited by provoked male juvenile delinquents towards highly versus lowly triggered bystanders. The results indicated that after low provocation, male juvenile delinquents exhibited significantly higher levels of displaced aggression towards highly triggered bystanders compared to lowly triggered bystanders. These findings demonstrated that male juvenile delinquents exhibited a high level of displaced aggression towards bystanders in provocative situations, particularly with highly triggered bystanders. This study supported the personality and social model of displaced aggression, emphasizing that bystanders, especially those with high triggers, were more likely to become targets of displaced aggression. The current study provides references for subsequent criminal rehabilitation and crime prevention.

Nonhuman treatment reduces helping others: self-dehumanization as a mechanism

Objectification is a daily experience with various negative consequences. In four studies (N = 877), we tested whether and how objectification experience contributes to decreased prosociality. Using correlational designs (Studies 1 and 2), we found that participants' objectification experience negatively predicted their prosocial intention and that self-dehumanization could account for the negative association between objectification and prosocial intention. Next, by manipulating participants' objectification experience, we found the negative effect of objectification on prosocial intention, as well as the mediating role of self-dehumanization (Studies 3 and 4). Additionally, we tested the mediating role of self-dehumanization in comparison with relative deprivation (another potential mediator), and consistently found that self-dehumanization was a stronger mediator in accounting for the effect of objectification on prosocial intention (Studies 1, 2, and 4). Together, our findings support the process of self-dehumanization following objectification and offer new insights into the relationship between objectification and prosociality. The implications and limitations of the research were discussed.

Workplace Objectification Leads to Self-Harm: The Mediating Effect of Depressive Moods

In the current research, we aimed to extend the literature on workplace objectification and contribute to employees' well-being by exploring whether and how workplace objectification increases self-harm as well as the coping strategy that may weaken the effect. Employing archive data analytic, correlational, longitudinal, and experimental designs, we found that workplace objectification was associated with, or led to, self-harm, irrespective of whether such actions provided an escape from work. This effect could not be simply ascribed to the negative nature of workplace objectification. We further found that depressive moods mediated this effect. The detrimental effect of workplace objectification on self-harm was lessened when employees perceived higher alternatives in life. Theoretical and managerial implications were discussed.

Insomnia is associated with conspiracy mentality, psychological distress, and psychological well-being

RATIONALE

Conspiracy theories are frequently encountered as they exist across all domains of life, from interpersonal issues in the workplace to global events. Research has primarily focused on uncovering the antecedents of conspiracy beliefs; meanwhile, little research has examined the impacts of possessing a conspiracy mentality.

OBJECTIVE

In the current research, we examined the relationships of conspiracy mentality with perceived control, insomnia, psychological well-being (i.e., positive emotions, engagement, relationships, meaning, and achievement), and psychological distress (i.e., anxiety and depression).

METHODS

Participants (N = 388) reported their conspiracy mentality at Time 1 and then completed measures assessing perceived control, insomnia, psychological well-being, and psychological distress 1 month later at Time 2. We conducted regression analyses, structural equation modeling, and bootstrapping analyses to test our predictions that conspiracy mentality predicts insomnia through thwarted perceived control and that this relationship carries direct implications for psychological well-being and distress.

RESULTS

As predicted, regression analyses showed that conspiracy mentality is negatively associated with perceived control and indicators of psychological well-being, and positively associated with insomnia and indicators of psychological distress 1 month later. The results of structural equation modeling and bootstrapping analyses provided empirical support to our theoretical model that perceived control and insomnia serially mediate the relationship between conspiracy mentality and both psychological well-being and psychological distress.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings offer important contributions to the literature on conspiracy beliefs. Practically, they offer potential routes of intervention to weaken insomnia and psychological distress and enhance psychological well-being.

Frustration-aggression hypothesis reconsidered: The role of significance quest

One of the oldest scientific theories of human aggression is the frustration-aggression hypothesis, advanced in 1939. Although this theory has received considerable empirical support and is alive and well today, its underlying mechanisms have not been adequately explored. In this article, we examine major findings and concepts from extant psychological research on hostile aggression and offer an integrative conception: aggression is a primordial means for establishing one's sense of significance and mattering, thus addressing a fundamental social-psychological need. Our functional portrayal of aggression as a means to significance yields four testable hypotheses: (1) frustration will elicit hostile aggression proportionately to the extent that the frustrated goal serves the individual's need for significance, (2) the impulse to aggress in response to significance loss will be enhanced in conditions that limit the individual's ability to reflect and engage in extensive information processing (that may bring up alternative, socially condoned means to significance), (3) significance-reducing frustration will elicit hostile aggression unless the impulse to aggress is substituted by a nonaggressive means of significance restoration, (4) apart from significance loss, an opportunity for significance gain can increase the impulse to aggress. These hypotheses are supported by extant data as well as novel research findings in real-world contexts. They have important implications for understanding human aggression and the conditions under which it is likely to be manifested and reduced.

Objectification decreases prosociality: the mediating role of relative deprivation

Objectification denies individuals' personhood and renders them as tools for facilitating others' goal achievement. With two studies (N = 446), the present investigation aimed to contribute to the literature by testing whether and how objectification impacts prosociality, including prosocial intention and prosocial behavior. Study 1, with a correlational design, aimed to test whether participants with greater experience of objectification would report lower levels of prosociality, and to test whether participants' relative deprivation could account for the proposed association between objectification and prosociality. To further test these associations and provide causal evidence, in Study 2, we manipulated objectification by asking participants to imagine future objectification experiences. These studies converged in support of the negative relationship between objectification and prosocial intention, as well as the mediating role of relative deprivation. Regarding prosocial behavior, our findings support a mediating mechanism between objectification and prosocial behavior, although the evidence for the effect of objectification on prosocial behavior is not sufficient. These findings enrich our understanding of the consequences of objectification, while highlighting interpersonal processes' contribution to prosocial intention and behavior. The limitations and potential future directions were discussed.

The Effect of Sexual Objectification on Dishonesty

In daily life, women often experience various forms of sexual objectification such as being stared at in public settings and receiving unsolicited sexual remarks on social media. These incidents could have damaging effects on women's physical and mental health, necessitating ways to respond to the experience. Researchers have provided burgeoning evidence demonstrating the effects of sexual objectification on various psychological, emotional, and cognitive outcomes. However, relatively few researchers have tested how sexually objectified people behaviorally react to the objectification experience. To address this knowledge gap, we aimed to test whether sexual objectification increases dishonesty among women and reveal one potential underlying psychological mechanism. We predicted that sexual objectification increases dishonesty serially through higher levels of relative deprivation and lower levels of self-regulation. We conducted two experiments (valid N = 150 and 279, respectively) to test the predictions and found that participants who experienced sexual objectification reported greater dishonest tendencies than those who did not (Experiments 1 and 2). Moreover, relative deprivation and self-regulation serially mediated the effect of sexual objectification on dishonesty (Experiment 2). In the current experiments, we highlight the essential role of relative deprivation and self-regulation in explaining how sexual objectification increases dishonesty and various related forms of antisocial behavior.

The myth of regaining control: Ostracism increases superstitious tendencies

Whether and how interpersonal experiences predispose people to show superstitious tendencies have been largely unexamined by past studies. By adopting a multimethod approach, three studies tested (a) whether ostracism increases superstitious tendencies through thwarted perceived control, (b) whether the dispositional need for closure moderates the effect of ostracism on superstitious tendencies and (c) whether restoring ostracized people's thwarted control weakens their superstitious tendencies. The results revealed that ostracized participants had higher superstitious tendencies than nonostracized participants did (Studies 1-3). Moreover, thwarted control mediated the effect of ostracism on superstitious tendencies (Study 2). In addition, the dispositional need for closure moderated the effect of ostracism on superstitious tendencies, such that the effect was stronger among participants with a high need for closure (Studies 1-2). Finally, restoring ostracized participants' perceived control weakened the effect of ostracism on superstitious tendencies (Study 3). Altogether, these findings feature the essential role of thwarted perceived control in understanding the link between ostracism and superstitious tendencies and the implication of control restoration in weakening the link. They also highlight the importance of dispositional characteristics in moderating people's responses to superstitions following ostracism and related forms of interpersonal maltreatment.

A within-person examination of the effect of mentors' daily ostracism on protégés' displaced aggression and in-role performance

Purpose

Drawing on social information processing theory and social comparison theory, we test how mentors' daily ostracism triggers protégés' envy, thus leading to decreased in-role performance and increased displaced aggression.

Design/methodology/approach

Using an experience sampling study across three work weeks, the study provided theoretical and empirical examinations of dynamic, within-person processes related to mentors' ostracism.

Findings

Mentors' daily ostracism triggers protégés' envy, which mediates the effect of mentors' daily ostracism on protégés' displaced aggression and in-role performance. Our findings supported our hypothesis of the buffering effect of mentorship quality on the negative effect of mentors' ostracism on protégés' envy but did not show a significant moderating effect on the mediating effect of protégés' emotions between mentors' daily ostracism and protégés' behaviors.

Research limitations/implications

Our study focused on the victims of mentors' ostracism on a daily basis. We constructed an overarching theoretical model to investigate how, why, and when mentors' daily ostracism leads to protégés' emotional and behavioral variability.

Practical implications

The study provided how to cope with ostracism and envy.

Originality/value

We discuss the theoretical implications of our findings for research on mentors' ostracism, protégés' emotions, and protégés' behaviors.

Introduction to the Special Issue of Group Processes & Intergroup Relations Less than Human: What People who are Dehumanized Think, Feel, and Do

Over recent years, social psychological research has investigated dehumanization (viewing and treating people as less than human) by primarily focusing on those who dehumanize—the perpetrators. Less is known about those who are dehumanized—the targets of dehumanization. This Special Issue aims to address this gap by assembling empirical works on metadehumanization (when targets perceive that they are being dehumanized by others) and self-dehumanization (when targets come to see themselves in dehumanized ways). In this introductory article, we summarize the state of the science and suggest a research agenda for further studying dehumanization from the target’s perspective, by considering: (a) the impact of dehumanizing portrayal used in media; (b) the role of cultural or societal features in shaping our humanness; (c) the individual or situational variables that trigger a dehumanizing versus rehumanizing reaction to dehumanization; (d) the influence of risk- or protective factors on the emerging of metadehumanizing or self-dehumanizing feelings; and (e) the phenomenon of ingroup dehumanization.

Impact of National Pandemic Lockdowns on Perceived Threat of Immigrants: A Natural Quasi-Experiment Across 23 Countries

Xenophobia and anti-immigrant attacks rose during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet this may not be solely due to the disease threat. According to theories of frustration and scapegoating, situational obstructions and deprivation can motivate prejudice against outgroups. Using a global natural quasi-experimental design, this study tests whether the restrictiveness of national lockdowns can explain higher individual-level perceptions of immigrant threat. Data of 45,894 participants from 23 countries were analyzed. Both lockdown duration and lockdown severity were positively associated with individuals’ perceived threat of immigrants. The lockdown effects were independent of objective and subjective measures of disease threat, and there was no evidence that disease threat drives people’s prejudice toward immigrants. Subgroup analysis suggested the lockdown effects were reliable in Europe and the Americas, but not in Asia. These findings suggest a need to mitigate frustration and scapegoating when implementing lockdowns, and to distinguish the influence of societal restrictions from disease threat.

Paradoxical Effects of Performance Pressure on Employees' In-Role Behaviors: An Approach/Avoidance Model

Performance pressure acts as a double-edged sword for employees. Based on an approach/avoidance framework, we theorize that performance pressure produces both positive and negative effects on employees’ in-role behaviors via approach motivation (i.e., self-objectification) and avoidance motivation (i.e., workplace anxiety), and work meaningfulness moderates employees’ reactions to performance pressure. We examine our hypotheses using data from a sample of 345 employees in various organizations. The results show that self-objectification provides an approach motive that mediates the positive indirect effect of performance pressure on employees’ in-role behaviors. However, workplace anxiety provides an avoidance motive that mediates the negative indirect effect of performance pressure on employees’ in-role behaviors. Work meaningfulness strengthens both the approach and avoidance tendencies that employees experience under performance pressure. Our findings have significant theoretical and managerial implications.

Objectification limits authenticity: Exploring the relations between objectification, perceived authenticity, and subjective well-being

Five studies (total valid N = 834) examined whether objectification (i.e., being treated as a tool or an object to achieve others' goals) reduces people's perceived authenticity and subjective well-being. Participants who experienced more objectification (Studies 1a and 1b), imagined being objectified (Study 2), or recalled a past objectification experience (Study 3) felt less authentic and reported lower levels of subjective well-being than their counterparts. Moreover, perceived authenticity mediated the link between objectification and subjective well-being (Studies 1a-3). In addition, offering objectified participants an opportunity to restore authenticity could enhance their well-being (Study 4). Taken together, our findings highlight the crucial role of authenticity in understanding when and why objectification decreases subjective well-being and how to ameliorate this relationship. Our findings also imply the effect of authenticity in understanding various psychological outcomes following objectification.

How perceived threat of COVID-19 related to aggressive tendencies during the pandemic in Hubei Province and other regions of China: Mediators and moderators

During the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, domestic violence, interpersonal conflicts, and cyberbullying have risen sharply in China. We speculate that the perceived threat of COVID-19 is related to a general, non-target-specific aggressive tendency during the pandemic. We surveyed 1556 Chinese people in April 2020 (757 people in Hubei Province, the pandemic epicenter in China, and 799 in other regions of China where the pandemic is relatively not severe). A multiple-group structural equation modeling analysis found significant total effects between perceived threat of COVID-19 and aggressive tendencies during the pandemic in both regional groups, and the effect between them was mainly achieved through the mediating roles of sense of control and powerlessness during the pandemic. For all participants, negative coping strategies significantly aggravated the association between perceived threat of COVID-19 and aggressive tendencies during the pandemic, but the buffers were different across regions of outbreak severity. For participants in other regions where the pandemic is relatively not severe, positive coping strategies could mitigate the association between perceived threat of COVID-19 and aggressions. However, for participants in Hubei Province, the epicenter of China's pandemic, higher life satisfaction was more effective in buffering. These findings extend the possible consequences of the perceived COVID-19 threat and suggest that improving the life satisfaction of residents in areas with severe outbreaks is more effective in mitigating the adverse effects of COVID-19.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12144-021-01792-7.

Sexual objectification increases retaliatory aggression

Two experiments were conducted to investigate whether sexual objectification increases retaliatory aggression serially through increased vulnerability and hostile intent attributions. Female participants were first exposed to the sexual objectification manipulation by receiving compliments from an online male partner (Experiment 1) or imagining a workplace objectification experience (Experiment 2). Afterward, their vulnerability and hostile intent attributions were assessed. Finally, they were given an opportunity to behave aggressively toward the source of objectification. The results of both experiments indicated that, compared with their counterparts in the control conditions, participants in the sexual objectification condition reported higher levels of vulnerability, hostile intent attributions, and aggression. Moreover, vulnerability and hostile intent attributions serially mediated the effect of sexual objectification on aggression. These findings highlight the critical influence of vulnerability and hostile intent attributions in understanding how sexual objectification increases aggression.