Cognitive, Emotional, and Motivational Consequences of Dehumanization

Zhang, Hong; Chan, Darius K.-S.; Xia, Shiyu; Tian, Yuan; Zhu, Jiawei

doi:10.1521/soco.2017.35.1.18

Cited by 31 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Diminished perceptions of employees’ humanness may culminate in rude or insensitive customer behaviors toward employees that undermine the former's job performance and well‐being (Kern & Grandey, ; Rafaeli et al., ; Volmer, Binnewies, Sonnentag, & Niessen, ; Zhan, Wang, & Shi, ). Even in the absence of such behaviors, feeling dehumanized is in itself a highly aversive and stressful experience (Moradi, ; Zhang, Chan, Xia, Tian, & Zhu, ).…”

Section: Theoretic Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discounting Humanity: When Consumers are Price Conscious, Employees Appear Less Human

et al. 2018

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Consumers are frequently bombarded with a myriad of marketing tactics. One tactic regularly employed by thrift-oriented brands is to highlight low prices, discounts, and sales promotions. When consumers encounter these low-price signals, they may adopt a price conscious mentality, that is, a singular focus on getting the cheapest deal. A price conscious mentality is likely beneficial for consumers, as it helps them save money. However, it is also possible that it has negative implications, particularly for how consumers perceive and interact with other human beings in the marketplace, such as customer service employees. The current research addresses this issue by investigating how consumers' price conscious mentality impacts their perceptions of employees' humanity. Results from four studies demonstrate that a price conscious mentality can lead consumers away from fully recognizing the human qualities of employees. The findings also suggest that this subtle form of dehumanization can result in harsher treatment of employees when they provide less than satisfactory service.

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Section: Theoretic Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discounting Humanity: When Consumers are Price Conscious, Employees Appear Less Human

et al. 2018

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“…Almost 60% of the studies drew upon self-objectification theory (Fredrickson & Roberts, 1997), mainly to investigate associations between self-objectification and health-related outcomes (Table 3). Around 18% of the studies drew upon psychosocial dehumanization theories, particularly the dual model of dehumanization (Adams, Case, Fitness, & Stevenson, 2017; Caesens, Stinglhamber, Demoulin, & DeWilde, 2017; Haslam, 2006; Martinez, 2014; Miron, McFadden, Nazario, & Buelow, 2017; Piccoli, Fantoni, Foroni, Bianchi, & Carnaghi, 2017; Sakalaki, Richardson, & Fousiani, 2017; Zhang, Chan, Xia, Tian, & Zhu, 2017), or the infrahumanization theory (Leyens, 2009; Pavon & Vaes, 2017; Trifiletti, DiBernado, Falvo, & Capozza, 2014; Vaes & Muratore, 2013), to analyze determinants and consequences of other-dehumanization. Discursive approaches were used to explore dehumanized representations or metaphors of the body in the press (Coveney, Nerlich, & Martin, 2009; Naslund, 2017; Potts & Semino, 2017) or in participants’ discourses (Anderson, Bresnahan, & DeAngelis, 2014; Dykes, 2005; Estrada-Mesa, Muñoz-Echavarría, & Cardona-Arias, 2016; Lauri, 2009; Schuster, Beune, & Stronks, 2011; Walker, 2012).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Six studies investigated the consequences of other-dehumanization. Most focused on mental health outcomes (Martinez, 2014; Szymanski & Feltman, 2014; Trifiletti et al, 2014; Vaes & Muratore, 2013; Zhang et al, 2017) and only one on physical health (Adams et al, 2017). These studies examined the consequences on both actors’ (Martinez, 2014; Trifiletti et al, 2014; Vaes & Muratore, 2013) and victims’ health (Adams et al, 2017; Szymanski & Feltman, 2014; Zhang et al, 2017), and some also evaluated personal and contextual moderators of these associations (Adams et al, 2017; Trifiletti et al, 2014; Vaes & Muratore, 2013; Zhang et al, 2017).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Also, women who perceived their work environment as dehumanizing, namely through sexual objectification, reported more anxiety, rumination, and eating disorders (Szymanski & Feltman, 2014). Finally, an experimental study with undergraduate students revealed that people with high self-esteem (vs. those with low self-esteem) expressed higher levels of sadness and aggression when they were mechanistically dehumanized, but not when they were animalistically dehumanized (Zhang et al, 2017). In sum, this set of studies showed that patients’ dehumanization seems to be protective of professionals’ mental health, decreasing stress, and burnout, whereas being a victim of dehumanization leads patients to poorer medical adherence and mental health.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As to other-dehumanization consequences, most studies focused on mental health. Whereas dehumanizing others may buffer against burnout and distress in the case of health care professionals (Trifiletti et al, 2014; Vaes & Muratore, 2013), being the victim of dehumanization is detrimental to mental health (e.g., increased anxiety, negative emotions; Szymanski & Feltman, 2014; Zhang et al, 2017). These results mirror previous findings in other interpersonal contexts showing that although other-dehumanization may bear detrimental consequences on its victims, it may play a protective function for the actors (Bastian et al, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Self- and Other-Dehumanization Processes in Health-Related Contexts: A Critical Review of the Literature

Diniz

Bernardes

Castro

2019

Review of General Psychology

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Dehumanization is an everyday, pervasive phenomenon in health contexts. Given its detrimental consequences to health care, much research has been dedicated to understanding and promoting the humanization of health services. However, health care service research has neglected the sociopsychological processes involved in the dehumanization of self and others, in formal but also informal health-related contexts. Drawing upon sociopsychological models of dehumanization, this article will bridge this gap by presenting a critical review of studies on everyday meaning-making and person perception processes of dehumanization in health-related contexts. A database search was conducted in PsycINFO, Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed, using a combination of keywords on dehumanization and health/illness/body; 3,229 references were screened; 95 full texts were assessed for eligibility; 59 studies were included. Most studies focused on informal contexts, reflecting a decontextualized and one-sided view of dehumanization (i.e., not integrating actors’ and victims’ perspectives). Despite the dominant focus on self-dehumanization, emerging perspectives uncover the role of processes that deny human uniqueness to others, and their individual determinants and consequences for mental health. A few studies bring to light the functions of a variety of dehumanizing body metaphors on self- and other-dehumanization. These trends in the literature leave several gaps, which are here critically analyzed to inform future research.

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I am not an animal: How animal metaphors backfire in product advertising

Huang

2024

Psychology and Marketing

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This study investigates the effect of animal metaphors in product advertisements. Such ads, especially those for health products, often employ metaphors depicting the ad messengers with animal characteristics to imply the negative health consequences of not using a product. Four studies are carried out using field and experimental data. The findings show that animal metaphor ads are less persuasive than nonmetaphor ads because the viewers of ads with animal‐like (as opposed to human) messengers experience stronger perceived self‐dehumanization, which in turn has a negative effect on product choice, brand attitude, product evaluation, and purchase intention. This effect occurs regardless of whether the animal metaphors are presented visually or verbally. Furthermore, the unfavorable reaction is stronger when the source domain includes a more disliked animal. However, it is also found that the animal metaphor effect diminishes when the target domain shifts from human to object. The findings shed light on how a sense of self‐dehumanization, triggered by the use of animalized model images in advertisements, can harm brands and products, offering insights into the pitfalls of using animal metaphors in health communication.

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Cognitive, Emotional, and Motivational Consequences of Dehumanization

Cited by 31 publications

References 32 publications

Discounting Humanity: When Consumers are Price Conscious, Employees Appear Less Human

Discounting Humanity: When Consumers are Price Conscious, Employees Appear Less Human

Self- and Other-Dehumanization Processes in Health-Related Contexts: A Critical Review of the Literature

I am not an animal: How animal metaphors backfire in product advertising

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