Watch the tone of your voice! An exploration of dehumanization of women by gender nonconformity based on tone of voice, occupation and appearance

Dehumanization refers to the act of likening others to objects or animals. This, in turn, mitigates feelings of conscience, guilt, and moral obligation in the face of behaviors such as violence, mistreatment, or discrimination against the dehumanized individuals. The aim of this study is to determine the extent of which women with mismatching vocal tone, occupation and appearance to their gender expectations are dehumanized by others. To achieve this, we conducted a between-groups factorial design experiment. In the experiment, participants looked at the photo and listened to the voice of a target woman with either a gender congruent or incongruent vocal tone, occupation, or appearance. Participants indicated the extent to which human attributes were appropriate for this individual. The results revealed that the main effects of vocal tone and occupation were significant for both mechanistic and animalistic dehumanization. A target woman with a mismatched vocal tone and occupation was more dehumanized compared to those with a matched vocal tone and occupation. However, the interaction effect of vocal tone, occupation type, and appearance was found to be significant only for mechanistic dehumanization. Our study provides evidence to recent concerns that women may experience dehumanization due to their vocal tone and occupation.

Intergenerational concern relates to constructive coping and emotional reactions to climate change via increased legacy concerns and environmental cognitive alternatives

As the threat of climate change looms large, and we experience first-hand the impacts of rapid global warming, researchers and clinicians emphasize the need to better understand the impact of these changes on our mental health. Existing research suggests that coping with and emotional reactions to climate change can promote action to adapt to and mitigate the impacts of climate change and reduce its negative impacts to one's mental health. In this pre-registered study (N = 771) we examined whether people who display extreme intergenerational concern would also constructively cope with climate change. Empirically-identified individuals showing high intergenerational concern reported more problem-focused and meaning-based coping, and less avoidant coping strategies with climate change. Further, even though they felt guilty, angry, sorrowful and isolated, these individuals also felt hopeful about the future. These effects were explained by increased concerns about one's legacy and higher access to environmental cognitive alternatives. By instilling values that highlight intergenerational concern as a key priority, we could thus not only increase pro-climate action, but also help individuals actively and constructively cope with changes produced by climate change.

Dehumanization of stigmatized targets of ostracism

The study explored people's reactions to observing the ostracism of stigmatized targets. Participants (n = 198) who observed ostracism experienced need threat regardless of the target's identity. Participants regarded included addicts more positively than ostracized addicts, especially on traits that are considered unique to humans. As for dehumanization, subtle measures demonstrate that ostracized targets are perceived as less human. In contrast, our original measure of blatant dehumanization suggests that targets of ostracism are perceived as more human. The study stresses the inconsistency between dehumanization measurements and the need to specify what each measure taps into and how each contributes to the theory.

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.

Animalistic slurs increase harm by changing perceptions of social desirability

In propaganda and hate speech, target groups are often compared to dangerous and disgusting animals. Exposure to these animalistic slurs is thought to increase endorsement of intergroup harm but the mechanism by which this happens remains unclear. Across two pre-registered and highly powered studies, we examined how animalistic language influences the cultural transmission of beliefs about target groups. In line with previous work, we found that describing a novel political group with animalistic slurs increased the extent to which participants endorsed harm towards them. Importantly, reading animalistic slurs did not influence the extent to which participants believed the target group possessed uniquely human qualities. Rather, the animalistic slurs influenced endorsement of harm by making the target group appear more undesirable. These findings offer a novel perspective into the nature of dehumanization and new insights into how hate speech functions.

All human social groups are human, but some are more human than others: A comprehensive investigation of the implicit association of "Human" to US racial/ethnic groups

All human groups are equally human, but are they automatically represented as such? Harnessing data from 61,377 participants across 13 experiments (six primary and seven supplemental), a sharp dissociation between implicit and explicit measures emerged. Despite explicitly affirming the equal humanity of all racial/ethnic groups, White participants consistently associated Human (relative to Animal) more with White than Black, Hispanic, and Asian groups on Implicit Association Tests (IATs; experiments 1-4). This effect emerged across diverse representations of Animal that varied in valence (pets, farm animals, wild animals, and vermin; experiments 1-2). Non-White participants showed no such Human=Own Group bias (e.g., Black participants on a White-Black/Human-Animal IAT). However, when the test included two outgroups (e.g., Asian participants on a White-Black/Human-Animal IAT), non-White participants displayed Human=White associations. The overall effect was largely invariant across demographic variations in age, religion, and education but did vary by political ideology and gender, with self-identified conservatives and men displaying stronger Human=White associations (experiment 3). Using a variance decomposition method, experiment 4 showed that the Human=White effect cannot be attributed to valence alone; the semantic meaning of Human and Animal accounted for a unique proportion of variance. Similarly, the effect persisted even when Human was contrasted with positive attributes (e.g., God, Gods, and Dessert; experiment 5a). Experiments 5a-b clarified the primacy of Human=White rather than Animal=Black associations. Together, these experiments document a factually erroneous but robust Human=Own Group implicit stereotype among US White participants (and globally), with suggestive evidence of its presence in other socially dominant groups.

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.

The tendency to dehumanize, group malleability beliefs, and perceived threat from migrants in Hungary

Examining the humanness attributed to several groups in a comprehensive Hungarian sample (N = 505) at the height of the “European refugee crisis of 2015,” we found that Hungarians dehumanize Eastern ethnic groups more and Western ethnic groups less than they do to their own ethnic ingroup. Interestingly, we also found that a general tendency of dehumanization is expressed across all national groups. This general tendency of dehumanization was strongly associated with threat perceived from migrants, but the relationship was mediated by group malleability—the belief that human groups can change and are not set in their ways irreversibly. Malleability beliefs were negatively linked to dehumanization tendencies and threat perceived from migrants. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of the findings that point to the critical role of fixed mindsets about groups in the mechanisms linked to prejudice in a highly xenophobic Hungarian context.

Dismissals for Social Media Hate Speech in South Africa: Animalistic Dehumanisation and the Circulation of Racist Words and Images

Social media is changing the way humans create and exchange information. Not all social media communications are, however, civil: the 'dark side' of social media cultivates various 'anti-social' exchanges including hate speech. Parallel accelerating social media use has been an increase in decision-makers having to consider the legalities of dismissing employees for social media misconduct. This paper through an analysis of first instance South African employee dismissal decisions, identifies an economy of hate within South African workplaces. In 30% of social media misconduct decisions (120/400), employees were dismissed for circulating racialised hate speech. This hate speech took three forms. First was the use of animality discourse and animal metaphors to dehumanise colleagues and employers. Second, employees used words that had specific racist connotations within South Africa. Third, there was the direct deployment of signs or symbols connected with South Africa's racialised past.

Beyond Ethnicity: Applying Helms's White Racial Identity Development Model Among White Youth

Research on racial identity among Youth of Color has expanded considerably in recent years, but a parallel examination of racial identity among white youth has not occurred, reiterating whiteness as normative. We applied Janet Helms's White Racial Identity Development (WRID) model among white U.S. youth (8-14 years old) to address this research gap. WRID centers racism and white supremacy, offering a framework to analyze white racial identity in the context of systemic inequity. Using longitudinal, qualitative analysis, we found age-related change over time, with some evidence of increasing resistance to racism. There was high participant variability, however, indicating that socio-cognitive abilities alone cannot predict anti-racist white identity development. We discuss implications for racial identity research and social justice-orientated developmental science.

The Early Expression of Blatant Dehumanization in Children and Its Association with Outgroup Negativity

Dehumanization is observed in adults across cultures and is thought to motivate human violence. The age of its first expression remains largely untested. This research demonstrates that diverse representations of humanness, including a novel one, readily elicit blatant dehumanization in adults (N = 482) and children (aged 5-12; N = 150). Dehumanizing responses in both age groups are associated with support for outgroup inferiority. Similar to the link previously observed in adults, dehumanization by children is associated with a willingness to punish outgroup transgressors. These findings suggest that exposure to cultural norms throughout adolescence and adulthood are not required for the development of outgroup dehumanization.

Reducing Islamophobia: An assessment of psychological mechanisms that underlie anti-Islamophobia media interventions

Western countries have witnessed increased hostility towards Muslims among individuals, and structurally in the ways that the media covers stories related to Islam/Muslims and in policies that infringe on the rights of Muslim communities. In response, practitioners have created media interventions that aim to reduce Islamophobia. However, it is unclear what causal effects these interventions have on reducing Islamophobia. Here, we test the effects of 11 media interventions developed by practitioners with an intervention tournament among U.S. samples. In Study 1, we identified three videos that most effectively reduced Islamophobia both immediately after watching and 1 month later. In Studies 2–4, we examined the psychological mechanisms of these successful videos and found an indirect effect of the interventions on reduced support for anti-Muslim policies through recognition of media bias against Muslims. This research highlights that drawing attention to structural biases, including biased media coverage of Muslims, is one potential strategy for ameliorating Islamophobia.

Dehumanization: trends, insights, and challenges

Despite our many differences, one superordinate category we all belong to is 'humans'. To strip away or overlook others' humanity, then, is to mark them as 'other' and, typically, 'less than'. We review growing evidence revealing how and why we subtly disregard the humanity of those around us. We then highlight new research suggesting that we continue to blatantly dehumanize certain groups, overtly likening them to animals, with important implications for intergroup hostility. We discuss advances in understanding the experience of being dehumanized and novel interventions to mitigate dehumanization, address the conceptual boundaries of dehumanization, and consider recent accounts challenging the importance of dehumanization and its role in intergroup violence. Finally, we present an agenda of outstanding questions to propel dehumanization research forward.

Threat Rejection Fuels Political Dehumanization

Americans disagree about many things, including what threats are most pressing. We suggest people morally condemn and dehumanize opponents when they are perceived as rejecting the existence or severity of important perceived threats. We explore perceived “threat rejection” across five studies ( N = 2,404) both in the real-world COVID-19 pandemic and in novel contexts. Americans morally condemned and dehumanized policy opponents when they seemed to reject realistic group threats (e.g., threat to the physical health or resources of the group). Believing opponents rejected symbolic group threats (e.g., to collective identity) was not reliably linked to condemnation and dehumanization. Importantly, the political dehumanization caused by perceived threat rejection can be soothed with a “threat acknowledgement” intervention.

"They're Not True Humans:" Beliefs about Moral Character Drive Denials of Humanity

A puzzling feature of paradigmatic cases of dehumanization is that the perpetrators often attribute uniquely human traits to their victims. This has become known as the "paradox of dehumanization." I address the paradox by arguing that the perpetrators think about their victims as human in one sense, while denying that they are human in another sense. I do so by providing evidence that people harbor a dual character concept of humanity. Research has found that dual character concepts have two independent sets of criteria for their application, one of which is descriptive and one of which is normative. Four experiments provided evidence that people deploy a descriptive criterion according to which being human is a matter of being a Homo sapiens; as well as a normative criterion according to which being human is a matter of possessing a deep-seated commitment to do the morally right thing. Importantly, I found that people are willing to affirm that someone is human in the descriptive sense, while denying that they are human in the normative sense, and vice versa. In addition to providing a solution to the paradox of dehumanization, these findings suggest that perceptions of moral character have a central role to play in driving dehumanization.

A social virus: Intergroup dehumanization and unwillingness to aid amidst COVID-19 - Who are the main targets?

Previous studies have shown that external threats, such as financial crises and natural disasters, might fuel negative attitudes, emotions, and behaviors towards outgroup members. However, it is unclear what types of outgroups are likely to be targeted when an external threat is taking its toll. In this study, we examine two types of outgroups that might be at risk of becoming victims of intergroup hostility. The first is the "ultimate scapegoat" outgroup which has a long history of negative relations with the ingroup. The second is the "context-dependent" outgroup which is viewed as an outgroup only in certain contexts. We utilized the COVID-19 crisis and the highly diverse social makeup of Israeli society to explore the extent to which each type of outgroup would be targeted. Results from our study (N = 664), conducted during the first peak of COVID-19 in Israel, show that higher levels of exposure to COVID-19 predicted lower willingness to aid outgroups and that outgroup dehumanization mediated this association. However, this held true only when the target outgroup was a context-dependent outgroup. When the target group was the ultimate scapegoat, exposure to COVID-19 did not predict ingroup willingness to aid them. Our findings contribute to our theoretical and practical knowledge on how intergroup hostility proliferates during external threats and, as such, are valuable to scholars, practitioners, and policymakers working to reduce intergroup tensions during large-scale crises.

Filthy Animals: Integrating the Behavioral Immune System and Disgust into a Model of Prophylactic Dehumanization

The behavioral immune system (BIS) is an evolved psychological mechanism that motivates prophylactic avoidance of disease vectors by eliciting disgust. When felt toward social groups, disgust can dampen empathy and promote dehumanization. Therefore, we investigated whether the BIS facilitates the dehumanization of groups associated with disease by inspiring disgust toward them. An initial content analysis found that Nazi propaganda predominantly dehumanized Jews by portraying them as disease vectors or contaminants. This inspired three correlational studies supporting a Prophylactic Dehumanization Model in which the BIS predicted disgust toward disease-relevant outgroups, and this disgust in turn accounted for the dehumanization of these groups. In a final study, we found this process of prophylactic dehumanization had a downstream effect on increasing anti-immigrant attitudes during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, consistent with the evolutionary logic of a functionally flexible BIS, this effect only occurred when the threat of COVID-19 was salient. The implications of these results for the study of dehumanization and evolutionary theories of xenophobia are discussed.

Less than human: dehumanisation of people who use heroin

Purpose

Stigma reduction is an important public health challenge because of the large morbidity and mortality associated with some forms of substance use. Extreme stigma can lead to dehumanisation of target groups, who are ascribed with lesser humanity. The authors examined whether there was blatant and subtle dehumanisation of people who use heroin, and if these were associated with levels of support for non-discriminatory drug policy.

Design/methodology/approach

A cross-sectional online study using a UK convenience sample (n = 307 [75.2% female, mean age 28.6 ± 12.2 years]) was conducted. Participants completed assessments of blatant (Ascent of Humans [AoH] scale) and subtle (an emotion attribution task) dehumanisation and a bespoke measure assessing support for non-discriminatory drug policies. Other measures controlled for stigma towards people who use drugs (PWUD) and moral disgust.

Findings

There was greater blatant dehumanisation of people who used heroin compared to the general population and other potentially stigmatised reference groups, including people who use cannabis. The authors also found evidence of subtle dehumanisation, and people who used heroin were rated as being less likely to feel uniquely human emotions, less likely to feel positive emotions and more likely to feel negative emotions. Blatant dehumanisation was associated with significantly lower probability of support for non-discriminatory drug policy.

Social implications

Dehumanisation may present significant challenges for stigma reduction initiatives and in fostering public support for drug policy and treatment. Denial of the humanity of this group could be used to justify discriminatory policies or relative deprioritisation of support services in funding decisions. Activities that seek to “rehumanise” PWUD, including social inclusion, and encouraging compassionate media representations that portray the lived experiences of substance use may be useful areas of future work.

Originality/value

This is the first study to investigate blatant and subtle dehumanisation of people who use heroin, and how this relates to public support for drug policy.

Metadehumanization and Self-dehumanization are Linked to Reduced Drinking Refusal Self-Efficacy and Increased Anxiety and Depression Symptoms in Patients with Severe Alcohol Use Disorder

Metadehumanization, the perception of being treated as less than a human by others, is a pervasive phenomenon in intergroup relations. It is dissociated from stigmatization or stereotypes, and it has been recently identified as a critical process in severe alcohol use disorders (SAUD). Metadehumanization is associated with a wide array of negative consequences for the victim, including negative emotions, aversive self-awareness, cognitive deconstruction, and psychosomatic strains, which are related to anxiety and depression. This study aims to investigate if metadehumanization occurring among patients with SAUD is associated with clinical factors involved in the maintenance of the disease, namely symptoms of depression or anxiety and drinking refusal self-efficacy. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 120 patients with SAUD. Self-reported questionnaires measured metadehumanization, self-dehumanization (i.e., the feeling of being less than a human), anxiety, depression, drinking refusal self-efficacy, and demographics. Metadehumanization was significantly associated with self-dehumanization, anxiety, depression, and drinking refusal self-efficacy. Additionally, path analyses showed that self-dehumanization mediated the links between metadehumanization and clinical variables. These results indicate that metadehumanization and self-dehumanization could be essential factors to consider during SAUD treatment, as they are associated with increased psychiatric symptoms and reduced drinking refusal self-efficacy.

The collective praise intervention: A brief intervention highlighting prosocial behavior reduces hostility towards Muslims

Muslims are consistently the target of dehumanization and hostile policies. Previous research shows that interventions that highlight the hypocrisy wherein people collectively blame entire groups for the heinous acts of individual members of outgroups but not ingroups are effective in reducing animosity towards Muslims. However, these interventions rely on aversive materials (e.g., terrorist acts), which can hinder the scalability of interventions due to individuals’ tendency to resist/avoid challenging and aversive stimuli. In three preregistered studies (combined N = 2,635), we developed and tested a nonaversive, hypocrisy-based intervention that highlights the hypocrisy involved in attributing ingroup members’ prosocial acts to the entire ingroup (i.e., Christians) but not doing the same for outgroup members (i.e., Muslims). Results indicated that this collective praise intervention reliably reduces dehumanization of Muslims, anti-Muslim policy support, and collective blame of Muslims. We argue that the intervention’s use of nonaversive stimuli allows for both practical and scalable applications.

Stigmatization and dehumanization perceptions towards psychiatric patients among nurses: A path-analysis approach

BACKGROUND

People with mental illness are stigmatized and dehumanized, which contributes to disorders' maintenance. Dehumanization is associated with abuse/neglect and should thus be evaluated among healthcare workers. We compared nurses' stigmatizing/dehumanizing perceptions of people with psychiatric versus non-psychiatric disorders. We also investigated the impact of social contact's quality/frequency and identified the determinants of dehumanization.

METHODS

French-speaking hospitals and nurses' associations were contacted to disseminate the survey among their employees or members. Three hundred thirty-six nurses reported their perceptions of one among three clinical populations (people with severe alcohol use disorder, schizophrenia, or cardiovascular disease). Nurses' perception of patients was evaluated through stigmatization, dehumanization, quality of contacts, structural discrimination, and evaluation of patients' life, pain, consent, and diagnostic overshadowing. Nurses' well-being was evaluated through their own perception of being dehumanized by superiors and their burnout, depression, anxiety, and stress levels.

RESULTS

Nurses stigmatized and dehumanized people with a psychiatric disorder more than people without a psychiatric disorder. Nurses dehumanized patients more if they felt dehumanized by their hierarchical superiors and less if they had qualitative contacts with patients.

CONCLUSIONS

Stigmatization and dehumanization are widespread among nurses in psychiatry, which advocates for less stigmatizing practices in healthcare settings. We propose concrete perspectives to reduce stigma/dehumanization among nurses.

Tracking Prejudice: A Mouse-Tracking Measure of Evaluative Conflict Predicts Discriminatory Behavior

Explicit evaluations of racial out-groups often involve conflict between opposing evaluative tendencies. Yet this type of conflict is difficult to capture with standard measures of evaluative processing, which either ignore explicit evaluation or capture only the aspects of explicit evaluation that are consciously accessible and freely reported. A new tool may fill this gap in our ability to measure conflict in racial evaluation. This tool, called the mouse-tracking measure of racial bias (Race-MT), is designed to capture conflict in explicit evaluations of racial groups, even if that conflict is neither consciously accessible nor freely reported. We vetted the Race-MT by exploring whether it predicts discriminatory behavior. Across five studies (four preregistered, N = 1,492), we used the Race-MT to measure conflict in people’s positive, explicit evaluations of racial out-groups versus in-groups. These measures predicted discriminatory behavior in a noisy, naturalistic setting, suggesting that the Race-MT provides theoretically meaningful and predicatively useful insights into racial evaluation.

Hated but still human: Metadehumanization leads to greater hostility than metaprejudice

Metadehumanization, the perception that members of an outgroup dehumanize your group, has been found to exacerbate intergroup conflict by inspiring reciprocal dehumanization of the offending outgroup. Moreover, metadehumanization is distinct from metaprejudice (i.e., the perception that an outgroup hates your group). Given the mutual animosity reported in public opinion polls toward the other side, we believed US–Russia relations would be a worthwhile context in which to extend this model. Therefore, we measured Americans’ levels of metadehumanization and metaprejudice of Russians to determine the association between these perceptions and their hostility toward Russians (Study 1). In this novel intergroup conflict, metadehumanization remained a consequential predictor of outgroup hostility over and above metaprejudice, suggesting that it can exacerbate a broader range of intergroup conflicts than those heretofore examined. Given these findings, we then sought to experimentally differentiate between metadehumanization and metaprejudice. In Study 2, we manipulated both metadehumanization and metaprejudice to (a) determine whether one or both cause greater outgroup hostility and (b) elucidate the underlying mechanisms by which they may produce this effect. Whereas metadehumanization produced greater hostility, metaprejudice did not. Moreover, although both metaperceptions inspired greater prejudice, only metadehumanization led to greater dehumanization. We conclude that metadehumanization may be a particularly potent fomenter of hostility because it inspires reciprocal dehumanization over and above more general negative bias.

Employee norm-violations in the service encounter during the corona pandemic and their impact on customer satisfaction

In this study, an experiment was used to examine the effects of employee norm-violations in the service encounter with respect to what was considered appropriate behavior (e.g., social distancing) during the 2020 corona pandemic. The participants were exposed to a grocery store employee whose behavior was manipulated (norm-violating vs. norm-confirming). Norm-violating behavior resulted in lower perceived employee warmth, lower perceived employee competence, higher disgust, and more dehumanization of the employee. These responses mediated the impact of employee behavior on customer satisfaction, so that satisfaction was attenuated when norms were violated. The mediators, however, typically also instill a hostile, avoidance-seeking mindset for those who are subject to norm-violations, which is likely to result in problems when transgressors are to be persuaded to change their behaviors.

Metadehumanization in severe alcohol-use disorders: Links with fundamental needs and clinical outcomes

BACKGROUND

Dehumanization, i.e., the denial of one's humanity, has important consequences for social interactions. Earlier works mainly studied the dehumanizer's perspective, neglecting victims and particularly psychiatric populations. This study's goal is thus to investigate if patients with severe alcohol-use disorders (SAUD) feel dehumanized by others and to reveal factors linked to metadehumanization.

METHODS

A cross-sectional study in 120 patients with SAUD as diagnosed by their psychiatrist using DSM-IV criteria.

RESULTS

Participants reported significant levels of metadehumanization, which were directly or indirectly linked to fundamental needs threat (γ = 0.41, p < .001), decreased positive emotions (indirect effect = -0.11, p < .05), reduced self-esteem (indirect effect = -0.16, p < .01), reduced use of functional coping strategies focused on the search of social support (γ = -0.20, p < .05), and increased use of dysfunctional coping strategies (indirect effect = 0.15, p < .01) such as excessive alcohol use (indirect effect = 0.10, p < .05).

CONCLUSIONS

Patients feel dehumanized by others, an experience linked to important deleterious consequences for patients' wellbeing and treatment.

Exaggerated meta-perceptions predict intergroup hostility between American political partisans

People's actions toward a competitive outgroup can be motivated not only by their perceptions of the outgroup, but also by how they think the outgroup perceives the ingroup (i.e., meta-perceptions). Here, we examine the prevalence, accuracy, and consequences of meta-perceptions among American political partisans. Using a representative sample (n = 1,056) and a longitudinal convenience sample (n = 2,707), we find that Democrats and Republicans equally dislike and dehumanize each other but think that the levels of prejudice and dehumanization held by the outgroup party are approximately twice as strong as actually reported by a representative sample of Democrats and Republicans. Overestimations of negative meta-perceptions were consistent across samples over time and between demographic subgroups but were modulated by political ideology: More strongly liberal Democrats and more strongly conservative Republicans were particularly prone to exaggerate meta-perceptions. Finally, we show that meta-prejudice and meta-dehumanization are independently associated with the desire for social distance from members of the outgroup party and support for policies that harm the country and flout democratic norms to favor the ingroup political party. This research demonstrates that partisan meta-perceptions are subject to a strong negativity bias with Democrats and Republicans agreeing that the shadow of partisanship is much larger than it actually is, which fosters mutual intergroup hostility.

In sickness and in filth: Developing a disdain for dirty people

Cleanliness is universally valued, and people who are dirty are routinely marginalized. In this research, we measured the roots of negative attitudes toward physically unclean individuals and examined the differences that exist in these attitudes between childhood and adulthood. We presented 5- to 9-year-old children and adults (total N = 260) with paired photographs of a dirty person and a clean person, and we measured biases with a selective trust task and an explicit evaluation task. In Study 1, where images of adults were evaluated, both children and adults demonstrated clear biases, but adults were more likely to selectively trust the clean informant. Study 2 instead used images of children and included several additional tasks measuring implicit attitudes (e.g., an implicit association task) and overt behaviors (a resource distribution task) and also manipulated the cause of dirtiness to include illness, enjoyment of filth, and accidental spillage. Children and adults again revealed strong biases regardless of the cause of dirtiness, but only children exhibited a bias on the explicit evaluation task. Study 3 replicated these findings in India, a country that has historically endorsed strong purity norms. Overall, this research indicates that dirty people are targets of discrimination from early in development, that this is not merely a Western phenomenon, and that this pervasive bias is most strongly directed at individuals of similar ages.

Seven Challenges for the Dehumanization Hypothesis

Propagandists often compare members of stigmatized out-groups to nonhuman entities such as rats, lice, and snakes. Drawing on these horrifying descriptions, the dehumanization hypothesis proposes that out-group members are viewed as less than human and that being viewed as less than human renders them vulnerable to harm. I offer seven challenges to the dehumanization hypothesis. I argue that, even in supposedly prototypical examples of extreme dehumanization, out-group members are not treated like nonhuman entities. Furthermore, although out-group members may be denied some human qualities and states, they are attributed others. I also argue that there is reason to doubt the hypothesized causal connection between being viewed as less than human and being at risk of harm-some nonhuman organisms are treated with great care, and some groups are harmed because of how their uniquely human qualities are perceived. I close by offering an alternative account of why out-group members are sometimes referred to as nonhuman entities.

The limited importance of dehumanization in collective violence

Perpetrators of collective violence allegedly dehumanize their victims. Psychologists often operationalize dehumanization as a social-cognitive process that turns people into beings whose thoughts, feelings, and relationships are of no concern to the perpetrators. The theory is that this process is an essential mechanism in intergroup violence. But a growing number of researchers from a variety of disciplines are pointing out the theoretical and empirical limitations of the dehumanization thesis. Some psychologists go so far as to argue that the thesis is mistaken. As this review shows, the explanatory value of 'dehumanization' is now in doubt. Whatever its intuitive appeal, the psychological concept of dehumanization might do more to distort than illuminate the history of collective violence.

A Psychological Profile of the Alt-Right

The 2016 U.S. presidential election coincided with the rise of the "alternative right," or alt-right. Alt-right associates have wielded considerable influence on the current administration and on social discourse, but the movement's loose organizational structure has led to disparate portrayals of its members' psychology and made it difficult to decipher its aims and reach. To systematically explore the alt-right's psychology, we recruited two U.S. samples: An exploratory sample through Amazon's Mechanical Turk (N = 827, alt-right n = 447) and a larger, nationally representative sample through the National Opinion Research Center's Amerispeak panel (N = 1,283, alt-right n = 71-160, depending on the definition). We estimate that 6% of the U.S. population and 10% of Trump voters identify as alt-right. Alt-right adherents reported a psychological profile more reflective of the desire for group-based dominance than economic anxiety. Although both the alt-right and non-alt-right Trump voters differed substantially from non-alt-right, non-Trump voters, the alt-right and Trump voters were quite similar, differing mainly in the alt-right's especially high enthusiasm for Trump, suspicion of mainstream media, trust in alternative media, and desire for collective action on behalf of Whites. We argue for renewed consideration of overt forms of bias in contemporary intergroup research.

The Development and Validation of a Dehumanization Measure Within Romantic Relationships

Despite the emergence of research into interpersonal dehumanization, there has been little by way of empirical investigation of the phenomenon within the context of romantic relationships. To address this, we introduce and validate the Dehumanization in Romantic Relationships Scale (DIRRS), a self-report measure of dehumanization perpetration and targeting within close relationships. In Study 1 (N = 1251, M age = 25.35, SD = 6.03), confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the dimensionality of interpersonal dehumanization may be more nuanced than first thought. Specifically, a four factor first-order structure [comprised of factors that relate to denials of human uniqueness (i.e., immature and unrefined) and human nature (i.e., exploitable and emotionless) was found to be the best fit to the data]. These results were replicated on a different sample in Study 2 (N = 847, M age = 23.40, SD = 6.43)-in addition to the assessment of criterion-related validity. Study 3 (N = 328, M age = 23.40, SD = 6.43) cross-validated the criterion-related validity reported in Study 2, and in addition, highlights that dehumanization is also associated with emotional and physical abuse. This research extends theory on interpersonal dehumanization and provides an empirically validated measure to reliably assess the occurrence of dehumanization within romantic relationships.

Evidence for blatant dehumanization of mental illness and its relation to stigma

People with mental illness face stigma, and due to their low social status, they may also face blatant dehumanization that denies their status as fully evolved human beings. In the current research, three studies documented the existence of blatant dehumanization of mental illness. Study 1 (N = 112) showed that participants rated people with mental illness in general as being significantly less human than other dehumanized social groups such as Mexican immigrants and Muslims. Study 2 (N = 158) showed that dehumanization occurs for specific mental disorders but that the level of dehumanization varies widely among disorders. Study 3 (N = 223) documented significant correlations between dehumanization of mental illness and standard measures of stigma such as fear, pity, and social distance. Overall, the results establish the relevance of blatant dehumanization to mental illness stigma and suggest new directions for understanding stigma.

Beyond dislike: Blatant dehumanization predicts teacher discrimination

School teachers have been shown to favor ethnic majority over minority students. However, it is unclear what psychological processes motivate ethnicity-based discrimination. Of the studies that have examined the psychological roots of teacher discrimination, most have focused on implicit or explicit prejudice. We propose an alternate predictor: dehumanization. Using a within-subject paradigm with a small-scale experiment ( N = 29) and a larger scale replication ( N = 161), we find that Hungarian preservice teachers consistently discriminate against Roma minority students by recommending that they be denied entry to higher track secondary schools, and preferentially placing them into lower track schools, relative to equally qualified ethnic majority Hungarian students, and that the severity of the ethnic tracking bias is predicted by dehumanization (but not prejudice). In fact, the relationship between dehumanization and discrimination holds (and may be significantly stronger) for teachers who express the lowest levels of prejudice towards the Roma.

Blatant Dehumanization of People with Obesity

OBJECTIVE

Stigmatization of obesity is common, but whether this stigma extends to people with obesity also being considered less human than individuals without obesity has not been examined. This study investigated whether people with obesity are blatantly dehumanized (i.e., explicitly considered to be less human and more animallike) and whether this predicts obesity discrimination.

METHODS

In four online studies (total N = 1,506) with American, British, and Indian participants, evidence for blatant dehumanization of people with obesity was examined. Whether blatant dehumanization of people with obesity was moderated by BMI and to what extent blatant dehumanization predicted support for weight discrimination were also investigated.

RESULTS

In all studies, participants believed that people with obesity were less evolved and less human than people without obesity. Although blatant dehumanization of people with obesity was most pronounced among thinner participants, the belief that people with obesity were less human was also observed among participants with class I obesity. Finally, dehumanization was predictive of support for policies that discriminate against people living with obesity.

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides the first evidence that people with obesity are blatantly dehumanized. This tendency to consider people with obesity as less human reveals the level of obesity stigma and may facilitate and/or justify weight discrimination.

Dehumanization of psychiatric patients: Experimental and clinical implications in severe alcohol-use disorders

Dehumanization, defined as the denial of one's membership to humanity, is a process repeatedly reported in extreme contexts (e.g., genocides) but also in everyday life interactions. Some antecedents of dehumanizing experiences (e.g., social exclusion, negative stereotypes) have been reported among patients presenting psychiatric disorders, but dehumanization's experience remains completely unexplored in addictive disorders. We propose a theoretical model and research agenda to overcome this limitation and to improve our understanding of dehumanization's experience in psychiatry, with a special focus on alcohol-related disorders. We also propose much-needed clinical avenues to reduce dehumanization in clinical contexts, centrally by (1) improving dehumanization awareness among medical workers; (2) reducing the need for healthcare workers to use dehumanization to alleviate professional exhaustion; and (3) optimizing medical training to increase empathy toward patients. Finally, some additional improvements are proposed to promote patient's choices, comfort, dignity, and ultimately humanity in hospitals.