Animal, Human and Robot Attribution: Ontologization of Roma, Romanian and Chinese Groups in an Italian Sample

Abstract

Background: The socio-psychological ontologization approach focuses on the attribution of a different “ontology” to outgroup members, that is the attribution of animal (or natural) attributes to the outgroup, and human (or cultural) attributes to the ingroups. Objectives: This study aims to enrich the ontologization approach in two ways: (1) A theoretical development of the ontologization approach is proposed, by including the attribution of the essence of automata to outgroup members; (2) whether the ontologization process is also verified for the Romanian and Chinese group is investigated, whereas the ontologization process has traditionally focused on the Roma minority. Methods: This study explores the ontologization process of an ingroup member, a Roma, Romanian and Chinese immigrant target via the attribution of a set of six randomly ordered animal, human and robot associates to one of the four targets (N = 269). We tested the idea that devaluation of Chinese immigrants relies on a mechanistic form of ontologization, instead of an animalistic one, such as the case for the Roma and Romanian groups. Results: The study confirms the animalization of Roma and Romanian targets in Italy. Both groups were ontologized by attributing animal-like associates to them and denying human-like associates. The Chinese target was ontologized based on a mechanistic approach as it was attributed a more automata-like dimension than an animal or human dimension. Conclusion: The pattern of the results regarding the association between the Roma and Romanian outgroup and animal-status may have negative consequences for intergroup relations in terms of reduced prosocial and increased antisocial behaviours.

Human, Animal and Automata Attributions: an Investigation of the Multidimensionality of the Ontologization Process

“…Traditionally, studies on the ontologization processes had focused only on the first two dimensions, that is, animal and human essence. Pivetti et al (2018) have investigated the attribution of three essences, that is, the animal, human and automata one, to 1 the Roma, Romanian and Chinese target, but have not provided any factorial validation of the proposed model. In this study, using CFA, we found that the model including human, animal and automata associates was statistically robust for each of the three target groups.…”

“…As per the definition, the ontologization approach consists in the attribution of animal characteristics, besides Pivetti et al (2018), to our knowledge, no studies have been conducted to investigate the attribution of a different ontology to outgroup members in terms of automata. Pivetti et al (2018) has proposed a theoretical development of the ontologization approach, which also includes the attribution to outgroup members of a "robot" essence, in addition to the animal essence. This study confirmed the animalization of the Roma people in Italy resulting from ingroup members attributing animallike associates to them and denying human-like associates.…”

“…dependent) describe a typical member of the "target" group (range, 1 = not at all to 7 = a great deal). The human, animal and automata associates had been selected on the grounds of previous studies (Berti et al, 2013;Pivetti et al, 2018).…”

Gender Role Beliefs and Ontologization of Mothers: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

“…Participants also attributed two animal (dirty and free) and two human (selfish and rational) traits to the depicted (step)mother on a 5-point Likert scale (1 = not at all; 5 = very well). Animal and human traits were the same ad-hoc items of previous studies on ontologization of "non-traditional" parents and other minority groups (see in Di Battista et al 2020b;Berti et al 2013;Pivetti et al 2018) (animal: M = 2.42, SD = 0.81; r = 0.31, p < 0.001; Skewness = 0.34, Kurtosis = 0.83; human: M = 2.82, SD = 0.82; r = 0.26, p < 0.001; Skewness = −0.02, Kurtosis = 0.37).…”

The grasshopper and the ant: Chinese teenagers and their representation of Italian people

“…Literature on the Chinese living in Italy is limited, with some exceptions (see e.g., Cologna 2005;Pedone 2011;Barbieri and Zani 2015;Ottati and Cologna 2015) to the national research audience, and published mainly in Italian (Ceccagno 1999;Cologna 2002Cologna , 2009Cologna and Breveglieri 2003;Pedone 2004Pedone , 2008. Moreover, most of the literature regarding the migrants living in Italy is focused on discrimination (see e.g., Cariota Ferrara and La Barbera 2008;Pivetti et al 2018) and the attitudes (see e.g., Castellini et al 2011) of the host society toward them. Few studies, on the other hand, focus on the representation of Chinese immigrants of their host society and how it affects their experience.…”