The ascent of man
Theoretical and empirical evidence for blatant dehumanization
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6205451 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nour S Kteily (0000-0003-4331-4037), Emile G Bruneau (0000-0001-7294-8675, Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Adam Waytz (0000-0001-9706-6062), Simon Cotterill (0000-0001-5136-390X, Harvard University Press), Sarah Cotterill (0000-0001-9605-9637) |
| Year | 2015 |
| Volume | 109 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 901-931 |
| Publication date | 2015-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-3514 • E-ISSN: 1939-1315 |
| Publisher | American Psychological Association (APA) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1037/pspp0000048 |
| PMID | 26121523 |
| OpenAlex | W2258681234 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 264 |
| References cited | 62 |
Dehumanization is a central concept in the study of intergroup relations. Yet although theoretical and methodological advances in subtle, "everyday" dehumanization have progressed rapidly, blatant dehumanization remains understudied. The present research attempts to refocus theoretical and empirical attention on blatant dehumanization, examining when and why it provides explanatory power beyond subtle dehumanization. To accomplish this, we introduce and validate a blatant measure of dehumanization based on the popular depiction of evolutionary progress in the "Ascent of Man." We compare blatant dehumanization to established conceptualizations of subtle and implicit dehumanization, including infrahumanization, perceptions of human nature and human uniqueness, and implicit associations between ingroup-outgroup and human-animal concepts. Across 7 studies conducted in 3 countries, we demonstrate that blatant dehumanization is (a) more strongly associated with individual differences in support for hierarchy than subtle or implicit dehumanization, (b) uniquely predictive of numerous consequential attitudes and behaviors toward multiple outgroup targets, (c) predictive above prejudice, and (d) reliable over time. Finally, we show that blatant-but not subtle-dehumanization spikes immediately after incidents of real intergroup violence and strongly predicts support for aggressive actions like torture and retaliatory violence (after the Boston Marathon bombings and Woolwich attacks in England). This research extends theory on the role of dehumanization in intergroup relations and intergroup conflict and provides an intuitive, validated empirical tool to reliably measure blatant dehumanization
Dehumanization · Empirical research · Epistemology · Ingroups and outgroups · Outgroup · Prejudice (legal term) · Sociology · Cultural Differences and Values · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social and Intergroup Psychology · Social Psychology
Don't Let the Illegals Vote!”
Dangerous Speech
The Prosecutor v. Vojislav Šešelj
Authoritarian attitudes are associated with higher autonomic reactivity to stress and lower recovery
Essentially subhuman
Demeaning
M(ai)cro
Dehumanization and Socioeconomic Status
Fluent in Misogyny
Dehumanization in the Global Migration Crisis
Darker Demons of Our Nature
Backlash
Dehumanization
Intergroup Perception and Cognition
Dehumanization increases instrumental violence, but not moral violence
Exposure to Muslims in Media and Support for Public Policies Harming Muslims
Recent research on dehumanization
The promise and pitfalls of cross-partisan conversations for reducing affective polarization
Exaggerated meta-perceptions predict intergroup hostility between American political partisans
Building long-term empathy
Perceived threat drives support for coercive border enforcement against unauthorized crossings
Swiping Right
The role of partisan news and political parasocial relationships in shaping meta‐perceptions
The Effects of Dehumanizing and Humorous Language in Social Protests on Behavioral Expressions of Support
Understanding News Coverage of Religious-based Violence
El error de Damasio. La aplicación del marcador somático a las decisiones políticas
Validation of the Korean version of the Self-Dehumanization Scale
La paradoja de la deshumanización en la tierra de los Derechos Humanos
When the lens is too wide
Executive Overreach and Fear
Humanism
Seven Challenges for the Dehumanization Hypothesis
Challenging the White = Neutral Framework in Psychology
Seven Clarifications on the Psychology of Dehumanization
Metadehumanization erodes democratic norms during the 2020 presidential election
Attitudes Toward Separating Immigrant Families at the United States–Mexico Border
Conceptualization and measurement of Islamophobia
Dehumanization of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (SC/ST)
Perceived Victimhood and Hostility Toward Political Opponents in the US
İnsandişilaştirmanin Anti̇k Kökenleri̇ Ve Aydinlanma Dönemi̇ne Etki̇si̇
Awe weakens the blatant dehumanization of people with obesity via common ingroup identity
Metaphors matter
A battle for validation and understanding of people with functional neurological disorder (FND)
Less than human
What’s the Chatter? Developing an Integrated Theory-Grounded Psycholinguistic Threat Assessment for the Evaluation of Online Extremist Chatter
Rethinking the ethical role in cyberloafing behavior
Hostile classism and admiration
Construal Level Stereotypes
Intergroup Contact Reduces Dehumanization and Meta-Dehumanization
Dehumanizing Prisoners
My Kind of Guy
Increasing Perceived Outgroup Heterogeneity Following Exposure to Extreme Violence
Political (Meta-)Dehumanization in Mental Representations
The Progressive Values Scale
Beliefs That White People Are Poor, Above and Beyond Beliefs That Black People Are Poor, Predict White (But Not Black) Americans’ Attitudes Toward Welfare Recipients and Policy
The Nature of Islamophobia
Narratives About Deported Migrants Who Served in the U.S. Military Reduce Animosity Toward Migrants in the United States
Spanish adaptation of the Ambivalent Classism Inventory (ACI)
Work in Long-Term Restrictive Housing and Prison Personnel Perceptions of the Humanity of People Who Are Incarcerated
Antimuslimische Einstellungen in der Polizei
Criminalization as a justification for violence against the homeless in Hungary
Labeling effects for the poor
Perceived economic inequality enlarges the perceived humanity gap between low- and high-socioeconomic status groups
When victimhood threatens democracy
Radical Ideas for Radical Self‐Importance? Exploring the Links Between Narcissism, Extreme Political Views, and Negative Attitudes Towards Political Opponents
Humanizing Clients With Internalized Neoliberal Ideology Using Contextual Therapy
No convincing evidence outgroups are denied uniquely human characteristics
Dehumanization after all
Intergroup preference, not dehumanization, explains social biases in emotion attribution
How people perceive the minds of the dead
Shooter biases and stereotypes among police and civilians
Does disgust-eliciting propaganda shape children's attitudes toward novel immigrant groups
Human, Animal and Automata Attributions
The humanity inventory
Migrants as “Objects of Care”
White Categorical Ambiguity
Parochial Empathy Predicts Reduced Altruism and the Endorsement of Passive Harm
Can Psychological Interventions Improve Intergroup Attitudes Post Terror Attacks
More for Us or More for Me? Social Dominance as Parochial Egoism
Empathy, Dehumanization, and Misperceptions
Bolstering Policy Support for Disadvantaged Groups Through Humanization
“You Little Creep”
Impact of National Pandemic Lockdowns on Perceived Threat of Immigrants
Reducing Explicit Blatant Dehumanization by Correcting Exaggerated Meta-Perceptions
Threat Rejection Fuels Political Dehumanization
The Best Way to Measure Explicit Racial Attitudes Is to Ask About Them
Teaching Robots a Lesson
Perception and Evaluation in Human–Robot Interaction
Personally, I feel sorry, but professionally, I don't have a choice.”1 Understanding the drivers of anti-Roma discrimination on the rental housing market
Bridging the divide
Identification with all humanity, support for refugees and for extreme counter-terrorism measures
The relationship between collective narcissism and group-based moral exclusion
The More, the Merrier
Dehumanization of Uncivil Behaviors
Race, Dehumanization, and the NFL National Anthem Protests
Partisan Dehumanization in Brazil's Asymmetrically Polarized Party System
Hiding in plain sight
The Psychology of White Nationalism
Toward a Psychological Science of Abolition Democracy
Intergroup images mediate the relationships between government abuse, sociopolitical orientations, and political action
Dehumanization in Medicine
Interpersonal Disgust, Ideological Orientations, and Dehumanization as Predictors of Intergroup Attitudes
Who Sees Human?
Ingroup Glorification, Moral Disengagement, and Justice in the Context of Collective Violence
The Roles of Dehumanization and Moral Outrage in Retributive Justice
Dehumanization and Infrahumanization
Dimensions of Mind Perception
Dimensions of “uniquely” and “non‐uniquely” human emotions
Structural Modeling of Generalized Prejudice
Four ways five factors are basic
Human‐itarian aid? Two forms of dehumanization and willingness to help after natural disasters
On seeing human
Dehumanization
An Integrated Threat Theory of Prejudice
Dehumanizing the Lowest of the Low
Social Dominance Orientation
An Individual Difference Measure of Motivation to Control Prejudiced Reactions
The Emotional Side of Prejudice
A model of dual attitudes
Aversive Racism and Selection Decisions
The Problem of Units and the Circumstance for Pomp
You're Inferior and Not Worth Our Concern
Infra‐humanization
The vermin have struck again’
The Impact of Intergroup Emotions on Forgiveness in Northern Ireland
Superordinate Categorization as a Moderator of Mutual Infrahumanization
Aid in the Aftermath of Hurricane Katrina
Differential Association of Uniquely and Non Uniquely Human Emotions with the Ingroup and the Outgroup
Attributing Human Uniqueness and Human Nature to Cultural Groups
Mechanisms of moral disengagement and their differential use by right‐wing authoritarianism and social dominance orientation in support of war
Disinhibition of aggression through diffusion of responsibility and dehumanization of victims
Are sexualized women complete human beings? Why men and women dehumanize sexually objectified women
Social dominance‐based threat reactions to immigrants in need of assistance
Emotional prejudice, essentialism, and nationalism The 2002 Tajfel lecture
Psychological essentialism and the differential attribution of uniquely human emotions to ingroups and outgroups
Dimensions of Mind
Violence without Moral Restraint
Moral Exclusion and Injustice
Excluded from humanity
Less power = less human? Effects of power differentials on dehumanization
Dehumanization and self-reported proclivity to torture prisoners of war
Objectifying Sarah Palin
From infra-humanization to discrimination
College Students’ Racial Attitudes
To Err is Human(-like)
Social dominance orientation
Not quite human
From Intractable Conflict Through Conflict Resolution To Reconciliation
Intergroup aggression
Assessing the structure of prejudicial attitudes
More human than you
Measuring individual differences in empathy
Not yet human
The nature of social dominance orientation
Reel Bad Arabs
Moral Disengagement in the Perpetration of Inhumanities
Is Female to Male as Nature is to Culture
Out-group homogeneity effects in natural and minimal groups
Relationships with Severely Disabled People
Justice, Morality, and the Dehumanization of Refugees
| Unique citing works | 264 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 24 |
| Citation span | 2015 - 2026 (12) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 255 |