Super-Human or Sub-Human? Positive Dehumanization and Gender in Public Performance Evaluations

Utych, Stephen M.; Fowler, Luke

doi:10.1177/00953997211069047

Cited by 3 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 39 publications

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“…When both animalistic and mechanistic dehumanization are present, it is less clear how each uniquely contributes to outgroup treatment. While animalistic dehumanization alone may predict variations of harm (Bevens & Loughnan, 2019), both types of dehumanization seem useful to explain variance in personality judgments (Utych & Fowler, 2022) and helping behaviors (Andrighetto et al, 2014; Terskova & Agadullina, 2019). Digging deeper into the relative consequences, ratings of HU and HN traits both predict governmental support (Sainz, Martínez, et al, 2020) and welfare policies (Sainz, Loughnan, et al, 2020) for low socioeconomic status (SES) individuals.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When dehumanization does (and does not) matter: Exploring the relationship between social justice motivations, avoidant behaviors, and intentions to help individuals experiencing homelessness

Lee

Dischinger

Dennis

2023

J Applied Social Pyschol

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Highly stigmatized groups, such as those experiencing homelessness, commonly encounter both animalistic and mechanistic dehumanization. Yet, how and when each form is related to the treatment of such groups is not well understood. We explored the relative importance of animalistic and mechanistic dehumanization in predicting behaviors to avoid and willingness to help individuals experiencing homelessness. Additionally, we probed social justice importance and engagement as potential moderators of the relationship between dehumanization and behavior. Study 1 demonstrated that animalistic dehumanization was a more significant predictor of avoidant behaviors than mechanistic dehumanization. Notably, social justice motivations moderated this relationship such that when individuals were low in social justice motivations, avoidance was high irrespective of dehumanizing attitudes. Study 2 aimed to replicate these findings in a more general sample with attention to a new outcome variable—intentions to help individuals experiencing homelessness. Results again demonstrated that animalistic dehumanization was a stronger predictor of behavior than mechanistic dehumanization. Unlike Study 1, social justice motivations did not moderate the relationship between dehumanization and intentions to help. Rather, social justice importance was a stronger predictor of variance in willingness to help than dehumanizing attitudes. Together, our findings suggest that the personal importance of social justice issues may be just as vital as reducing negative attitudes to increase positive engagement with individuals experiencing homelessness and potentially others who belong to similarly dehumanized groups.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

When dehumanization does (and does not) matter: Exploring the relationship between social justice motivations, avoidant behaviors, and intentions to help individuals experiencing homelessness

Lee

Dischinger

Dennis

2023

J Applied Social Pyschol

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The Effects of Dehumanizing and Humorous Language in Social Protests on Behavioral Expressions of Support

Karpinska-Krakowiak,

Pierzgalski

2024

Applied Linguistics

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Little is still known about how the language used in social protests affects people’s behavioral expressions of support. This study aims to bridge this gap and investigates the impact of dehumanizing and humorous language employed by protesters in their slogans on the decisions of other individuals to join or openly support such protests. Two experiments were conducted, revealing that exposure to dehumanizing language did not significantly alter the likelihood of supporting protests compared to non-dehumanizing language. However, when combined with humor, dehumanizing language had a positive effect on behavioral expressions of support. In the second experiment we replicated this effect and revealed the mechanism behind it: humor diminished the perceived violence associated with a message containing dehumanizing language, thus increasing the likelihood of individuals acting upon and supporting the social protest. These findings shed light on the factors influencing the varying levels of support observed across different social movements.

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Deservingness, humanness, and representation through lived experience: analyzing first responders’ attitudes

Lofaro,

Sapat

2024

Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory

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Representative bureaucracy theory has mainly been used to understand how identities related to race, ethnicity, and gender influence how bureaucrats administer public services. Although representation through lived experience has expanded the scope of the theory, this theoretical thread has mostly focused on the perspectives of management. The purpose of this article is to employ lived experience representative bureaucracy theory to understand the influence of first responders’ experiences with substance use disorder (drug addiction) on their viewpoints regarding the humanness and deservingness of clients with opioid use disorder. We analyze data from a survey of emergency medical services (EMS)-providers and police officers in the United States (N = 3,500) with ordinary least squares regression and Hayes’ PROCESS macro to test for mediation. Results show that indirect and direct lived experiences—respectively, having a family member or friend who has experienced addiction and believing addiction has had a direct impact on respondents’ lives—predict increases in client deservingness, mediated by ascribed humanness and driven largely by EMS-providers. However, responding to opioid overdoses—an on-the-job lived experience—is associated with reduced deservingness and ascribed humanness. The study adds to the literature by expanding representative bureaucracy theory beyond race, ethnicity, and gender; broadening representation through lived experience beyond a focus on managers to include street-level bureaucrats; and incorporating concepts from social and political psychology that have yet to be integrated into representative bureaucracy studies.

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Super-Human or Sub-Human? Positive Dehumanization and Gender in Public Performance Evaluations

Cited by 3 publications

References 39 publications

When dehumanization does (and does not) matter: Exploring the relationship between social justice motivations, avoidant behaviors, and intentions to help individuals experiencing homelessness

When dehumanization does (and does not) matter: Exploring the relationship between social justice motivations, avoidant behaviors, and intentions to help individuals experiencing homelessness

The Effects of Dehumanizing and Humorous Language in Social Protests on Behavioral Expressions of Support

Deservingness, humanness, and representation through lived experience: analyzing first responders’ attitudes

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