Both at a conceptual and an empirical level, infra‐humanization has been put on par with the relative greater attribution of uniquely human emotions to the in‐group, assuming that a group's humanity ...is exclusively a matter of having uniquely human characteristics. In the present research we suggest that people also adopt another strategy to infra‐humanize the out‐group by considering those aspects that characterize and differentiate the in‐group from the out‐group as more uniquely human. In three studies, characteristics presented as typical of the in‐group and the out‐group were judged on a not uniquely human–uniquely human dimension. In addition to humanity, in Study 3 participants judged in‐group and out‐group characteristics also on an evaluative dimension. Consistent with the hypothesis, participants judged in‐group characteristics as more human than those of the out‐group, independent of their valence. The implications of these results for infra‐humanization theory are discussed.
Emotion scientists often distinguish those emotions that are encountered universally, even among animals ( "primary emotions"), from those experienced by human beings ( "secondary emotions"). No ...attempt, however, has ever been made to capture the lay conception about this distinction and to find the criteria on which the distinction is based. The first study presented in this paper was conducted in three countries involving four languages, so as to allow for cross-cultural comparisons. Results showed a remarkable convergence. People from all samples not only differentiated between "uniquely human" and "non-uniquely human" emotions on a continuum, but they did so on the same basis as the one used by emotion scientists to distinguish between "primary" and "secondary" emotions. Study 2 focused on the implicit use of such a distinction. When confronted with a human (animal) context, participants reacted faster to secondary (vs primary) emotions. The implications of the human uniqueness of some emotions within the social and interpersonal contexts are discussed.
By taking advantage of the Italian protest in 2009 in reaction to the behaviour of then Prime Minister Berlusconi, in this research, we investigated the role of sexist beliefs (i.e., hostile sexism, ...complementary gender differentiation, protective paternalism, and heterosexual intimacy) and group‐based emotional reactions (i.e., anger, humiliation, and sadness) to women's and men's action mobilization against public forms of sexism. The findings of this study suggest that women and men engaged in this protest for different reasons. Women mobilized to express their anger at Berlusconi's sexist behaviour, an emotion related to the condemnation of hostile sexist views and benevolent sexist beliefs about heterosexual intimacy. In contrast, the strength of men's participation in the protest was affected by humiliation, an emotion related to the condemnation of hostile sexist beliefs and support for complementary gender differentiation. This emotional path suggests that men likely protested to restore their reputations. These findings underline the role of sexist beliefs and group‐based emotions in transforming the condemnation of a sexist event into action mobilization against sexism for both women and men.
Individuals may support economic redistribution because of practical considerations, but also because they perceive it as morally necessary according to their personal ethical beliefs. Across three ...studies, we investigated whether attitudes towards reducing economic inequality can be experienced with moral conviction (i.e. perceived as rooted in one's core beliefs about right and wrong) and motivate support for redistributive government policies. In Study 1 (N = 138), reducing economic inequality moral conviction scores were comparable to other highly moralized topics (e.g. euthanasia) and higher than lowly moralized topics (e.g. tattoos). In Study 2 (N = 325) and Study 3 (N = 271), the moral conviction for reducing economic inequality positively predicted support for several redistributive government policies. Additionally, while empathic concern (Study 2 and 3) provided mixed results, structural causal attributions (Study 3) mediated this effect. Therefore, our findings highlight the importance of personal moral significance in understanding what motivates support for redistributive policies.
Four experiments confirmed the hypothesis that people discriminate the out-group on the basis of the expression of uniquely human emotions. In Study 1, using a lost e-mail paradigm, the expression of ...a uniquely human emotion resulted in "nicer" replies when the sender was an in-group compared with an out-group member. The same pattern of results was obtained in Studies 2 and 3 using a conformity paradigm. In addition, perceived similarity was measured and proposed as a potential underlying mechanism (Study 3). Finally, using an approach-avoidance procedure, Study 4 showed that people not only deprive the out-group of positive consequences as in the former studies but that people also act against the out-group. The role of infrahumanization underlying prejudice and discrimination is discussed.
A debated issue in the multisensory literature concerns the relative contribution of bottom-up sensory components versus top-down cognitive elaborations in contributing to the rise and persistency of ...bodily illusion. Previous studies, for instance, have shown that simultaneity of sensory inputs and plausibility of the stimulated object play an important role in the rubber hand phenomenon, whereas violation of tactile expectancy does not disrupt the illusory feeling to own a fake hand. The present research examined this issue in the context of the “enfacement” phenomenon (i.e., self-other face-perception modification), using entirely arbitrary and non-ecological pairs of visual and tactile events. Visual and tactile stimulation was matched in terms of spatial location, but not linked by any previously learned associations, making temporal synchrony a critical binding factor. Participants received electro-tactile stimulations on their cheek, while they watched the face of a stranger illuminated on the cheek with a dot of white light. Synchronous (vs. asynchronous) stimulations yielded the enfacement effect. In addition, the stranger stimulated in synchrony was judged as more similar, physically and in terms of personality, and as closer to the self. These findings suggest that synchronous multisensory stimulation on the face can produce both perceptual and social binding, even in the absence of any previously learned associations between the stimulations.
The focus on negative attitudes toward other groups has led to a dichotomy between the prejudice reduction and the collective action approach. To solve the resulting problems identified by Dixon et ...al., we suggest analyzing the psychological processes underlying the construction of relationships (and their alternatives) between own and other groups.
Mostly invigorated by infrahumanisation theory, our knowledge on processes of dehumanisation in intergroup relations has grown considerably in the last decade. Building on these earlier endeavours, ...the present chapter reviews some recent empirical extensions that highlight the importance of differentiating between ingroup humanisation and outgroup dehumanisation because they are often moderated by specific variables. The role of these separate processes is discussed as a function of the main structural elements that define intergroup behaviour; that is, the defining boundaries of the groups, the relation between the groups at hand, and the ideologies of its members. Finally, the role of the different senses of humanness is discussed, suggesting that the folk conception of humanness differs between cultures.
Infra‐humanizing outgroups involves considering outgroups less human and more animal‐like than the ingroup, which is perceived, in essence, as fully human. In this article, the first section presents ...the theoretical background of infra‐humanization and distinguishes it from related concepts, such as dehumanization. The three basic hypotheses of the theory are then presented with a summary of empirical evidence. Social implications follow. Reasons for the pervasiveness of the phenomenon are examined as well as conditions that lead a specific outgroup to be infra‐humanized. We also explore the consequences of infra‐humanization, such as a lack of forgiveness for the outgroup and the ingroup's justification for past misdeeds against the outgroup, rather than guilt. Policy issues center on ways to combat essentialism, walls of difference between groups, and irrational symbols of superiority. The roles of egalitarian values and of deprovincialized intergroup contact are emphasized.
The perception of our self is not restricted to our physical boundaries, but it extends beyond the body to incorporate the space where individual–environment interactions occur, i.e., the ...peripersonal space (PPS). PPS is generally conceived as a low-level multisensory-motor interface mediating hand–object interactions. Recent studies, however, showed that PPS representation is affected by higher-level cognitive factors. Here we asked whether the multisensory representation of PPS is influenced by high-level mechanisms implied in social interactions, such as the social perception of others. To this aim, in Experiment 1, we developed and validated a new multisensory interaction task in mixed reality (i.e., the Social PPS task). This task allows measuring the boundaries of PPS between one self and another person in a fully controlled, yet highly ecological, set-up. In the Experiment 2, we used this task to measure how participants' PPS varied when facing another person. The social perception of this person was manipulated via a classic social psychology procedure, so that, in two conditions, she was perceived either as a moral or an immoral character. We found that PPS representation is sensitive to the social perception of the other, being more extended when participants were facing a moral than when facing an immoral person. This effect was specific for social context, as no change in PPS was found if participants were facing an object, instead of the person. Interestingly, the social manipulation affected also attitude, identification, willingness to interact with the other, so as interpersonal distance. Together these findings show that social perception of others affects both the psychological representation of the others in relation to oneself and the multisensory representations of the space between oneself and the other, offering new insights about the role of social cognition in body representation.
PDF
