The longstanding view of workers as objects: antecedents and consequences of working objectification

Subjective economic inequality evokes interpersonal objectification

Interpersonal objectification, treating people as tools and neglecting their essential humanness, is a pervasive and enduring phenomenon. Across five studies (N = 1183), we examined whether subjective economic inequality increases objectification through a calculative mindset. Study 1 revealed that the perceptions of economic inequality at the national level and in daily life were positively associated with objectification. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrated a causal relationship between subjective economic inequality and objectification in a fictitious organization and society, respectively. Moreover, the effect was mediated by a calculative mindset (Studies 3-4). In addition, lowering a calculative mindset weakened the effect of subjective inequality on objectification (Study 4). Finally, increased objectification due to subjective inequality further decreased prosociality and enhanced exploitative intentions (Study 5). Taken together, our findings suggest that subjective economic inequality increases objectification, which further causes adverse interpersonal interactions.

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.

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.

Gender and Media Representations: A Review of the Literature on Gender Stereotypes, Objectification and Sexualization

Media representations play an important role in producing sociocultural pressures. Despite social and legal progress in civil rights, restrictive gender-based representations appear to be still very pervasive in some contexts. The article explores scientific research on the relationship between media representations and gender stereotypes, objectification and sexualization, focusing on their presence in the cultural context. Results show how stereotyping, objectifying and sexualizing representations appear to be still very common across a number of contexts. Exposure to stereotyping representations appears to strengthen beliefs in gender stereotypes and endorsement of gender role norms, as well as fostering sexism, harassment and violence in men and stifling career-related ambitions in women. Exposure to objectifying and sexualizing representations appears to be associated with the internalization of cultural ideals of appearance, endorsement of sexist attitudes and tolerance of abuse and body shame. In turn, factors associated with exposure to these representations have been linked to detrimental effects on physical and psychological well-being, such as eating disorder symptomatology, increased body surveillance and poorer body image quality of life. However, specificities in the pathways from exposure to detrimental effects on well-being are involved for certain populations that warrant further research.

Threatened humanity in a tight world: Cultural tightness results in self-objectification

Self-objectification can be considered as a specific kind of self-dehumanization that consists of a perception of oneself as more instrument-like than human-like and a decreased self-attribution of mental states. Self-objectification is commonly observed, and its contributing factors need to be better understood. In the present research, we examined whether cultural tightness, which entails strong social norms and punishments for deviant behaviors, is an antecedent to self-objectification. Our hypotheses were confirmed by four studies, involving quasi-experiments and fully controlled experiments ( N = 2,693). In particular, Chinese college students living in a region with a tight culture (compared to a loose culture, Study 1), American employees working in an industry with a tight corporate culture (compared to a loose culture, Study 2), American participants who were induced to support cultural tightness (vs. cultural looseness, Study 3), and those who were situated in a simulated tight culture (vs. a loose culture, Study 4) all showed increased levels of self-objectification. As such, they acknowledged their personhood less and focused more on their instrumentality. Implications are discussed.

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.

Preliminary Evidence of EEG Connectivity Changes during Self-Objectification of Workers

Economic objectification is a form of dehumanization in which workers are treated as tools for enhancing productivity. It can lead to self-objectification in the workplace, which is when people perceive themselves as instruments for work. This can cause burnout, emotional drain, and a modification of self-perception that involves a loss of human attributes such as emotions and reasoning while focusing on others' perspectives for evaluating the self. Research on workers self-objectification has mainly analyzed the consequences of this process without exploring the brain activity that underlies the individual's experiences of self-objectification. Thus, this project explores the electroencephalographic (EEG) changes that occur in participants during an economic objectifying task that resembled a job in an online store. After the task, a self-objectification questionnaire was applied and its resulting index was used to label the participants as self-objectified or non-self-objectified. The changes over time in EEG event-related synchronization (ERS) and partial directed coherence (PDC) were calculated and compared between the self-objectification groups. The results show that the main differences between the groups in ERS and PDC occurred in the beta and gamma frequencies, but only the PDC results correlated with the self-objectification group. These results provide information for further understanding workers' self-objectification. These EEG changes could indicate that economic self-objectification is associated with changes in vigilance, boredom, and mind-wandering.