1
|
Cogoni C, Monachesi B, Mazza V, Grecucci A, Vaes J. Neural dynamics of vicarious physical pain processing reflect impaired empathy toward sexually objectified versus non-sexually objectified women. Psychophysiology 2023; 60:e14400. [PMID: 37578333 DOI: 10.1111/psyp.14400] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2022] [Revised: 06/15/2023] [Accepted: 07/06/2023] [Indexed: 08/15/2023]
Abstract
Sexually objectified women are perceived as dehumanized. This may affect the behavioral and neural responses underlying the observer's empathic reactions for their physical pain, although this hypothesis still lacks empirical support. In the present study, we measured the electrophysiological activity of 30 participants (14 females and 16 males), in an empathy for physical pain paradigm in which pictures of sexualized and non-sexualized women were presented in painful and non-painful situations. The behavioral results revealed that sexualized women were evaluated as experiencing less pain than non-sexualized women. Neural evidence corroborated this finding showing that the perception of vicarious physical pain is lacking for sexualized women in both event-related potentials (ERPs) and brain oscillation domains. Specifically, the P2 component and the event-related synchronization/desynchronization (ERS/ERD) on the mu frequency band differed between painful and non-painful stimulation exclusively when women were not sexualized. Our results provide the first evidence that the neurophysiological responses to the vicarious experience of physical pain are dampened or even absent for sexualized women. These findings expand our understanding of the neurophysiological signatures of empathic processes and highlight the detrimental effect of a sexual-objectification bias in everyday contexts.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Carlotta Cogoni
- Instituto de Biofísica e Engenharia Biomédica, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Lisboa, Portugal
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
| | - Bianca Monachesi
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
| | - Veronica Mazza
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
| | - Alessandro Grecucci
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
| | - Jeroen Vaes
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Baldassi G, Murgia M, Prpic V, Rigutti S, Domijan D, Agostini T, Dissegna A, Fantoni C. Attentional capture in emotion comparison is orientation independent. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2023; 87:636-653. [PMID: 35552515 PMCID: PMC9928822 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-022-01683-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/28/2021] [Accepted: 04/13/2022] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
Abstract
Recent findings on emotion comparison show a typical pattern of motor reactivity rising from attentional capture. When pairs of emotional faces are presented simultaneously, the most intense emotional face is recognized faster (Emotional Semantic Congruency-ESC effect). Furthermore, a global response speed advantage for emotional pairs with positive rather than negative average emotion intensity is observed (i.e., emotional size effect), with the choice for the happiest face resulting in a faster response than the choice for the angriest face within the pair (i.e., the happiness advantage). In two experiments, we asked whether these effects are orientation dependent, and thus linked to whether face processing is holistic or part-based. Participants were asked to choose the angriest/happiest face in emotional pairs displayed either in upright or inverted orientation and including (Experiment 1) or not including (Experiment 2) a neutral face. Beyond an overall facilitation for upright relative to inverted pairs, results showed orientation independent ESC and emotional size effects. Furthermore, the happiness advantage was present in emotional pairs of Experiment 2 but not in emotional pairs of Experiment 1, independently from face orientation. Together, results suggest that attentional capture in emotion comparison is immaterial on the type of face processing, being orientation invariant.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Giulio Baldassi
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Via E. Weiss 21, 34128, Trieste, Italy
| | - Mauro Murgia
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Via E. Weiss 21, 34128, Trieste, Italy
| | | | - Sara Rigutti
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Via E. Weiss 21, 34128, Trieste, Italy
| | | | - Tiziano Agostini
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Via E. Weiss 21, 34128, Trieste, Italy
| | - Andrea Dissegna
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Via E. Weiss 21, 34128, Trieste, Italy
| | - Carlo Fantoni
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Via E. Weiss 21, 34128, Trieste, Italy.
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Elaborating humanness: a direct comparison between mindful and mindless entities. Curr Opin Behav Sci 2023. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cobeha.2022.101235] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/07/2022]
|
4
|
D’Argenio G, Finisguerra A, Urgesi C. Spatial Frequency Tuning of Body Inversion Effects. Brain Sci 2023; 13:brainsci13020190. [PMID: 36831733 PMCID: PMC9954120 DOI: 10.3390/brainsci13020190] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2022] [Revised: 01/13/2023] [Accepted: 01/18/2023] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Body inversion effects (BIEs) reflect the deployment of the configural processing of body stimuli. BIE modulates the activity of body-selective areas within both the dorsal and the ventral streams, which are tuned to low (LSF) or high spatial frequencies (HSF), respectively. The specific contribution of different bands to the configural processing of bodies along gender and posture dimensions, however, is still unclear. Seventy-two participants performed a delayed matching-to-sample paradigm in which upright and inverted bodies, differing for gender or posture, could be presented in their original intact form or in the LSF- or HSF-filtered version. In the gender discrimination task, participants' performance was enhanced by the presentation of HSF images. Conversely, for the posture discrimination task, a better performance was shown for either HSF or LSF images. Importantly, comparing the amount of BIE across spatial-frequency conditions, we found greater BIEs for HSF than LSF images in both tasks, indicating that configural body processing may be better supported by HSF information, which will bias processing in the ventral stream areas. Finally, the exploitation of HSF information for the configural processing of body postures was lower in individuals with higher autistic traits, likely reflecting a stronger reliance on the local processing of body-part details.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Giulia D’Argenio
- PhD Program in Neural and Cognitive Sciences, Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, 34128 Trieste, Italy
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy
- Correspondence: (G.D.); (C.U.)
| | | | - Cosimo Urgesi
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, 33100 Udine, Italy
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Pasian di Prato (Udine), 33037 Udine, Italy
- Correspondence: (G.D.); (C.U.)
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Sacino A, Cocchella F, De Vita G, Bracco F, Rea F, Sciutti A, Andrighetto L. Human- or object-like? Cognitive anthropomorphism of humanoid robots. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0270787. [PMID: 35881625 PMCID: PMC9321781 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0270787] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2021] [Accepted: 06/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Across three experiments (N = 302), we explored whether people cognitively elaborate humanoid robots as human- or object-like. In doing so, we relied on the inversion paradigm, which is an experimental procedure extensively used by cognitive research to investigate the elaboration of social (vs. non-social) stimuli. Overall, mixed-model analyses revealed that full-bodies of humanoid robots were subjected to the inversion effect (body-inversion effect) and, thus, followed a configural processing similar to that activated for human beings. Such a pattern of finding emerged regardless of the similarity of the considered humanoid robots to human beings. That is, it occurred when considering bodies of humanoid robots with medium (Experiment 1), high and low (Experiment 2) levels of human likeness. Instead, Experiment 3 revealed that only faces of humanoid robots with high (vs. low) levels of human likeness were subjected to the inversion effects and, thus, cognitively anthropomorphized. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings for robotic and psychological research are discussed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Alessandra Sacino
- Department of Educational Science, University of Genova, Genova, Italy
| | - Francesca Cocchella
- Department of Educational Science, University of Genova, Genova, Italy
- Cognitive Architecture for Collaborative Technologies Unit, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy
| | - Giulia De Vita
- Department of Educational Science, University of Genova, Genova, Italy
| | - Fabrizio Bracco
- Department of Educational Science, University of Genova, Genova, Italy
| | - Francesco Rea
- Robotics Brain and Cognitive Sciences Unit, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy
| | - Alessandra Sciutti
- Cognitive Architecture for Collaborative Technologies Unit, Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, Genova, Italy
| | - Luca Andrighetto
- Department of Educational Science, University of Genova, Genova, Italy
- * E-mail:
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
D'Argenio G, Finisguerra A, Urgesi C. Experience-dependent reshaping of body gender perception. PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH 2022; 86:1184-1202. [PMID: 34387745 PMCID: PMC9090903 DOI: 10.1007/s00426-021-01569-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2020] [Accepted: 07/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Protracted exposure to specific stimuli causes biased visual aftereffects at both low- and high-level dimensions of a stimulus. Recently, it has been proposed that alterations of these aftereffects could play a role in body misperceptions. However, since previous studies have mainly addressed manipulations of body size, the relative contribution of low-level retinotopic and/or high-level object-based mechanisms is yet to be understood. In three experiments, we investigated visual aftereffects for body-gender perception, testing for the tuning of visual aftereffects across different characters and orientation. We found that exposure to a distinctively female (or male) body makes androgynous bodies appear as more masculine (or feminine) and that these aftereffects were not specific for the individual characteristics of the adapting body (Exp.1). Furthermore, exposure to only upright bodies (Exp.2) biased the perception of upright, but not of inverted bodies, while exposure to both upright and inverted bodies (Exp.3) biased perception for both. Finally, participants' sensitivity to body aftereffects was lower in individuals with greater communication deficits and deeper internalization of a male gender role. Overall, our data reveals the orientation-, but not identity-tuning of body-gender aftereffects and points to the association between alterations of the malleability of body gender perception and social deficits.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Giulia D'Argenio
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Trieste, Trieste, Italy. giulia.d'
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, via Margreth, 3, 33100, Udine, Italy. giulia.d'
| | | | - Cosimo Urgesi
- Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Languages and Literatures, Communication, Education and Society, University of Udine, via Margreth, 3, 33100, Udine, Italy.
- Scientific Institute, IRCCS E. Medea, Pasian di Prato, Udine, Italy.
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
A multilevel Bayesian meta-analysis of the body inversion effect: Evaluating controversies over headless and sexualized bodies. Psychon Bull Rev 2022; 29:1558-1593. [PMID: 35230674 DOI: 10.3758/s13423-022-02067-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 01/27/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Face and body perception rely on specialized processing mechanisms to interpret social information efficiently. The body inversion effect (BIE), refers to an inversion effect for bodies, such that recognition of bodies is impaired by inversion. The BIE, like the face inversion effect (FIE), is particularly important because a disproportionate BIE relative to inversion effects for objects could be interpreted in much the same way as the disproportionate FIE has often been characterized; that is, as evidence of specialized, configural processing. However, research supporting the BIE is marked by methodological heterogeneity and mixed findings. Our multilevel Bayesian meta-analysis addresses inconsistencies in the literature by pooling data from numerous studies to estimate the magnitude of the BIE across various methodological and stimulus properties. We included 180 effect sizes from 41 empirical articles representing data from 2,274 participants. Overall, we found that the BIE was moderate-large in magnitude (Hedges' g = 0.75). Importantly, the inversion effect was larger for bodies than objects (b = 0.42); however, the inversion effect for faces was larger than for bodies (b = 0.34). We tested the role of discrimination dimension, stimulus type, face/head inclusion, stimulus sexualization, and sexualized stimulus sex as moderators of the BIE. We found that the BIE was moderated by discrimination dimension, stimulus type, stimulus sexualization, and sexualized stimulus sex. By synthesizing the existing literature, we provide a better theoretical understanding of how underlying visual processing mechanisms may differ for different types of social information (i.e., bodies vs. faces).
Collapse
|
8
|
Bernard P, De Laet M, Gervais SJ. Is body inversion effect a valid measure of women's objectification? Yes, it is! PERSONALITY AND INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.paid.2021.110708] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
|
9
|
Abstract
AbstractMedia that sexually objectify women by portraying them in ways that emphasize physical beauty and sexual readiness as well as reduce them to decorative and sexual objects have been traditionally identified by scholars as a powerful cultural risk factor encouraging sexual harassment and sexual violence. In the present article we review the existing empirical evidence linking sexually objectifying media and sexual harassment of women to the overarching and integrative Media-Induced Sexual Harassment framework. This framework offers a coherent scheme for explaining the effects of sexually objectifying media on three target groups directly involved in sexual harassment—perpetrators, victims, and bystanders—and it postulates three cognitive and emotional mechanisms through which sexually objectifying media lead to sexual harassment: dehumanization, disruption of emphatic resonance, and a shift in gender norms. The evidence reviewed on the basis of the Media-Induced Sexual Harassment framework shows that sexually objectifying media converge in normalizing harassing behaviors and can be a causal risk factor for increasing engagement in sexual harassment, heightening victims’ acceptance of sexual harassment and discouraging bystander intervention. We discuss implications of these arguments for effectively preventing negative effects of exposure to sexually objectifying media and for education programs aimed at critical media-consumption.
Collapse
|
10
|
Cogoni C, Carnaghi A, Silani G. Reduced shared emotional representations toward women revealing more skin. Cogn Emot 2020; 35:225-240. [PMID: 32998646 DOI: 10.1080/02699931.2020.1826409] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/09/2023]
Abstract
Extensive experimental research has been conducted to investigate how individuals empathise with others depending on contextual and motivational factors. However, the effect of sexual objectification (i.e. focus on the individual's physical appearance over his/her mental state) on empathy is scarce at best thus far. The aim of this work is to shed light on whether objectification modulates empathic responses toward humans and human-like objects. In Experiment 1, participants either underwent visuo-tactile stimulation or witnessed another person (a mannequin, a sexualized or a non-sexualized female confederate) being stimulated with pleasant or unpleasant objects. Participants were then asked to report either their own or the other's emotional experience. Results showed that shared representations (i.e. similarity between self-other emotional ratings) are significantly lower for the mannequin, intermediate for the sexualized woman, and reach the highest values for the non-sexualized woman. In Experiment 2, shared representations were assessed during a ball-tossing game in which the participants or one of the two confederates (sexualized or non-sexualized woman) were excluded from the game. Again, results showed reduced similarity between self-other emotional ratings toward sexualized as compared to non-sexualized women. The findings suggest that interacting with sexually objectified women reduces empathic responses typically observed within human relations.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Carlotta Cogoni
- Faculty of Sciences, Institute of Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.,Neuroscience Sector, Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, Trieste, Italy
| | - Andrea Carnaghi
- Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita, Università degli Studi di Trieste, Trieste, Italy
| | - Giorgia Silani
- Department of Clinical and Health Psychology, University of Vienna, Austria
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Bernard P, Cogoni C, Carnaghi A. The Sexualization–Objectification Link: Sexualization Affects the Way People See and Feel Toward Others. CURRENT DIRECTIONS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCE 2020. [DOI: 10.1177/0963721419898187] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
Recent research has examined the sexualization–objectification link (i.e., whether sexualized individuals are appraised as if they were objects rather than persons). This research has found that sexualized individuals are more likely to be processed and categorized as if they were objects and are also perceived as possessing fewer humanlike traits than nonsexualized individuals. In addition, sexualization prompts negative behaviors such as social exclusion. Altogether, these findings shed light on mechanisms that might underlie violence toward sexualized individuals.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Philippe Bernard
- Center for Social and Cultural Psychology, Université Libre de Bruxelles
| | - Carlotta Cogoni
- Institute of Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Sciences, University of Lisbon
| | - Andrea Carnaghi
- Dipartimento di Scienze Della Vita, Università Degli Studi di Trieste
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Zogmaister C, Durante F, Mari S, Crippa F, Volpato C. Measuring objectification through the Body Inversion Paradigm: Methodological issues. PLoS One 2020; 15:e0229161. [PMID: 32074127 PMCID: PMC7031944 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0229161] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/25/2019] [Accepted: 01/23/2020] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Objectification occurs when a person is perceived and/or treated like an object. With the present work, we overview the available measures of objectification and present a series of studies aimed at investigating the validity of the task of inverted body recognition proposed by Bernard and colleagues (2012), which might potentially be a useful cognitive measure of objectification. We conducted three studies. Study 1 (N = 101) is a direct replication of Bernard et al.'s study: participants were presented with the same photos of sexualized male and female targets used in the original research. Study 2a (N = 100) is a conceptual replication: we used different images of scantily dressed male and female models. Finally, in Study 2b (N = 100), we investigated a boundary condition by presenting to participants photos of the same models as in Study 2a, but fully dressed and non-sexualized. Using mixed-effects models for completely-crossed classified data structures, we investigated the relationship between the inversion effect and the stimulus' asymmetry, sexualization and attractiveness, and the perceivers' self-objectification, sexism, and automatic woman-human association. Study 1 replicated the original results, showing a stronger inversion effect for male photos. However, no difference between male and female stimuli emerged in either Study 2a or 2b. Moreover, the impact of the other variables on the inversion effect was highly unstable across the studies. These aspects together indicate that the inversion effect depends on the specific set of stimuli and limits the generalizability of results collected using this method.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Cristina Zogmaister
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca,
Milan, Italy
- * E-mail:
| | - Federica Durante
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca,
Milan, Italy
| | - Silvia Mari
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca,
Milan, Italy
| | - Franca Crippa
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca,
Milan, Italy
| | - Chiara Volpato
- Department of Psychology, University of Milano-Bicocca,
Milan, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Vaes J, Cogoni C, Calcagnì A. Resolving the Human–Object Divide in Sexual Objectification: How We Settle the Categorization Conflict When Categorizing Objectified and Nonobjectified Human Targets. SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PERSONALITY SCIENCE 2019. [DOI: 10.1177/1948550619875142] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
Abstract
Using a mouse-tracking technique, we measured the strength and the temporal unfolding of the conflict when people categorize objectified and nonobjectified human stimuli in the human or object category. We recorded participants’ hand movements when they categorized male and female, objectified and nonobjectified, human, and doll-like stimuli in the person and object categories. As expected, objectified women created a stronger categorization conflict compared to all other human stimuli. The nature of the mouse trajectories indicated that this response competition was caused by the distractor (object category) rather than the target (person category) and showed to be smooth rather than abrupt suggesting dynamic competition between the object–human categories rather than the sequential unfolding of a dual process. These findings demonstrate that the human–object divide fades when women (but not men) are objectified. The implications of the current findings for theorizing on processes of sexual objectification are discussed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jeroen Vaes
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy
| | - Carlotta Cogoni
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of Trento, Rovereto, Italy
| | - Antonio Calcagnì
- Department of Developmental Psychology and Socialization, University of Padova, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Now you see me, now you don't: detecting sexual objectification through a change blindness paradigm. Cogn Process 2019; 20:419-429. [PMID: 31435750 DOI: 10.1007/s10339-019-00927-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2018] [Accepted: 08/12/2019] [Indexed: 10/26/2022]
Abstract
The goal of this work is to provide evidence for the cognitive objectification of sexualized targets via a change blindness paradigm. Since sexual objectification involves a fragmented perception of the target in which individuating features (i.e., the face) have less information potential than sexualized features (i.e., body parts), we hypothesized that changes in faces of sexualized targets would be detected with less accuracy than changes in faces of nonsexualized targets. Conversely, we expected that changes in body parts would be detected with higher accuracy for sexualized than nonsexualized targets. These hypotheses were supported by the results of two studies that employed a change blindness task in which stimuli with changes both to faces and bodies of sexualized and nonsexualized images were presented. Unexpectedly, the hypothesized effects emerged both for female and male targets.
Collapse
|
15
|
Vaes J, Cristoforetti G, Ruzzante D, Cogoni C, Mazza V. Assessing neural responses towards objectified human targets and objects to identify processes of sexual objectification that go beyond the metaphor. Sci Rep 2019; 9:6699. [PMID: 31040314 PMCID: PMC6491438 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-42928-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2018] [Accepted: 04/08/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Objectification - reducing a someone to a something - represents a powerful and potentially damaging way in which we can see and treat others. Women are often victims of processes of objectification that occur whenever a woman is reduced to her body or certain body parts. What remains unclear is the extent to which a woman becomes an object when objectified. Using the oddball paradigm in three experiments, participants' neural activity was measured while they analyzed frequently presented male and female human stimuli and infrequently presented gender-matched doll-like objects. The infrequent doll-like objects were expected to trigger a late event-related neurophysiological response (P300) the more they were perceived different from the repeated, human stimuli (i.e., the oddball effect). In Experiment 1, the oddball effect was significantly smaller for objectified women compared to objectified men. Results of Experiment 2 confirmed that this effect was confined to objectified depictions of women. In Experiment 3, no semantic references to the human-object divide were provided, but objectified women were still perceived more similar to real objects. Taken together, these results are the first to demonstrate that the perception of women, when objectified, changes in essence beyond the metaphor.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Jeroen Vaes
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of Trento, Trento, Italy.
| | - Giulia Cristoforetti
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Trento, Italy.,Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Ghent, Ghent, Belgium
| | - Daniela Ruzzante
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
| | - Carlotta Cogoni
- Department of Psychology and Cognitive Sciences, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
| | - Veronica Mazza
- Center for Mind/Brain Sciences, University of Trento, Trento, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
16
|
Xiao L, Li B, Zheng L, Wang F. The Relationship Between Social Power and Sexual Objectification: Behavioral and ERP Data. Front Psychol 2019; 10:57. [PMID: 30740077 PMCID: PMC6355676 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/03/2018] [Accepted: 01/09/2019] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Sexual objectification is very common in modern Western societies, especially toward women. Previous research has suggested that in Western cultures, social power could lead to objectification. Specifically, power activates an approaching tendency toward useful targets, in turn leading to instrumental objectification and sexual objectification of targets. However, previous research has mostly focused on Western cultures, and the neural correlates underlying this phenomenon remain unclear. To examine whether the effects of power can be generalized to Chinese cultural contexts and how power promotes the objectification of sexualized bodies, we conducted two studies using Chinese samples. In Study 1, we replicated the behavioral effects of social power on sexual objectification. Specifically, we found that power increased sexual objectification toward sexualized female rather than male bodies. In Study 2, we examined the absence of an N170 amplitude inversion effect as a possible neural correlate of sexual objectification and replicated the effects of power on sexual objectification through event-related potentials (ERPs). For participants in a high-power group, the N170 amplitude inversion effect emerged when processing sexualized male bodies (less sexual objectification) but not female bodies (more sexual objectification); this effect was not seen for those participants in a low-power group. Our findings provide behavioral and neural data that power leads to increased sexual objectification toward sexualized women in Chinese participants.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Lijuan Xiao
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.,Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Baolin Li
- School of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Lijun Zheng
- Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University, Chongqing, China
| | - Fang Wang
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education, Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| |
Collapse
|