AI Article Synopsis
- Psychological models help understand how different groups treat each other, but only if they explain social biases correctly.
- The common belief that people see members of other groups as less human is called infrahumanization theory, but this study challenges that idea.
- The researchers found that people don't really deny human emotions to others; instead, they think of them as having fewer good feelings and more bad ones, showing that this theory might not be the best way to understand how groups view each other.
Article Abstract
Psychological models can only help improve intergroup relations if they accurately characterise the mechanisms underlying social biases. The claim that outgroups suffer dehumanization is near ubiquitous in the social sciences. We challenge the most prominent psychological model of dehumanization - infrahumanization theory - which holds outgroup members are subtly dehumanized by being denied human emotions. We examine the theory across seven intergroup contexts in thirteen pre-registered and highly powered experiments (N = 1690). We find outgroup members are not denied uniquely human emotions relative to ingroup members. Rather, they are ascribed prosocial emotions to a lesser extent but antisocial emotions to a greater extent. Apparent evidence for infrahumanization is better explained by ingroup preference, outgroup derogation and stereotyping. Infrahumanization theory may obscure more than it reveals about intergroup bias.
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Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8444081 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2021.104865 | DOI Listing |
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