Two experiments examine whether exposure to generic violence can display infrahumanization towards out-groups. In Study 1, participants had to solve a lexical decision task after viewing animal or human violent scenes. In Study 2, participants were exposed to either human violent or human suffering pictures before doing a lexical decision task. In both studies, the infrahumanization bias appeared after viewing the human violent pictures but not in the other experimental conditions. These two experiments support the idea of contextual dependency of infrahumanization, and suggest that violence can prime an infrahuman perception of the out-group. Theoretical implications for infrahumanization and potential underlying mechanisms are discussed.
Anderson, C.A., Berkowitz, L., Donnerstein, E., Huesmann, L.R., Johnson, J., Linz, D., Malamuth, N., & Wartella, E. ( 2003). The influence of media violence on youth. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 4, 81-110.
2.
Bandura, A. (1983). Psychological mechanisms of aggression. In R. G. Geen & C. I. Donnerstein (Eds.), Aggression: Theoretical and empirical reviews. Vol. 1: Theoretical and methodological issues (pp. 1-40). New York: Academic Press.
3.
Bandura, A. ( 1990). Selective activation and disengagement of moral control . Journal of Social Issues, 46, 27-46.
4.
Bargh, J.A., Chen, M., & Burrows, L. ( 1996). Automaticity of social behavior: Direct effects of trait construct and stereotype activation on action. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 71, 230-244.
5.
Bargh, J.A., & Pietromonaco, P. (1982). Automatic information processing and social perception: The influence of trait information presented outside of conscious awareness on impression formation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 43, 437-449.
6.
Bar-Tal, D. ( 1990). Causes and consequences of delegitimization: Models of conflict and ethnocentrism. Journal of Social Issues, 46, 65-81.
7.
Berkowitz, L. ( 1973). Words and symbols as stimuli to aggressive responses . In J. Knutson (Ed.), Control of aggression: Implications from basic research (pp. 113-143). Chicago: Aldine.
8.
Berkowitz, L. ( 1984). Some effects of thoughts on anti and prosocial influences of media events: A cognitive-neoassociation analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 95, 410-427.
9.
Berkowitz, L. ( 1986). Situational influences on reactions to observed violence . Journal of Social Issues, 42, 93-106.
10.
Berkowitz, L., & LePage, A. (1967). Weapons as aggression-eliciting stimuli. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 7, 202-207.
11.
Berkowitz, L., & Rogers, K. ( 1986). A priming effect analysis of media influences. In J. Bryant & D. Zillmann (Eds.), Perspectives on media effects (pp. 57-81). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
12.
Blair, I. ( 2002). The malleability of automatic stereotypes and prejudice . Personality and Social Psychology Review, 6, 242-261.
13.
Bushman, B.J. ( 1998). Priming effects of media violence on the accessibility of aggressive constructs in memory. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 24, 537-545.
14.
Castano, E. ( 2008). On the perils of glorifying the in-group: Intergroup violence, in-group glorification, and moral disengagement. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 1, 154-170.
15.
Castano, E., & Giner-Sorolla, R. (2006). Not quite human: Infrahumanization in response to collective responsibility for intergroup killing. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 90, 804-818.
16.
Clark, M.S., Pataki, S.P., & Carver, V. ( 1996). Some thoughts and findings on self-presentation of emotions in relationships. In G. J. O. Fletcher & J. Fitness (Eds.), Knowledge structures in close relationships: A social psychological approach (pp. 247-274). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
17.
Cortes, B. ( 2005). Looking for conditions leading to infrahumanization. Doctoral thesis, Université Catholique de Louvain. Lovain-la-Neuve , Belgium.
18.
Cortes, B., Demoulin, S., Viki, T., Rodríguez-Torres, R., Rodríguez-Pérez, A., & Leyens, J-Ph. (2005). Infrahumanization or familiarity? Attribution of uniquely human emotions to the self, the ingroup and the outgroup . Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31, 243-253.
19.
Delgado, N. ( 2008).Contextual variations of infrahumanization. Doctoral thesis, University de la Laguna Tenerife, Spain.
20.
Delgado, N., Rodríguez-Pérez, A., Leyens, J-Ph. , Vaes, J., Betancor, V., & Rodríguez-Torres , R. (2007). Not all outgroups are equally human: The role of similarity, friendship, knowledge and status. Unpublished manuscript.
21.
Delgado, N., Rodríguez-Pérez, A., Vaes, J., Leyens, J-Ph. , & Betancor, V. (2008). Contextual variations of infrahumanization: The role of physical context and territoriality. Unpublished manuscript, University de la Laguna Tenerife, Spain.
22.
Demoulin, S., Leyens, J-Ph., Paladino, M.P., Rodríguez-Torres, R., Rodríguez-Pérez, A., & Dovidio, J.F. (2004). Dimensions of ‘uniquely’ and ‘non-uniquely’ emotions. Cognition and Emotion , 18, 71-96.
23.
Demoulin, S., Rodríguez-Torres, R., Rodríguez-Pérez, A., Vaes, J., Paladino, M.P., Gaunt, R., Cortes, B.P., & Leyens , J-Ph. (2004). Emotional prejudice can lead to infrahumanization. In W. Stroebe & M. Hewstone, European Review of Social Psychology (Vol. 15). Hove: Psychology Press.
24.
Harris, L.T., & Fiske, S.T. ( 2006). Dehumanizing the lowest of the low: Neuroimaging responses to extreme out-groups. Psychological Science, 17, 847-853.
25.
Haslam, N. ( 2006). Dehumanization: An integrative review. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10, 252-264.
26.
Josephson, W.L. ( 1987). Television violence and children’s aggression: Testing the priming, social script, and disinhibition predictions. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 53, 882-890.
27.
Kelman, H.C. ( 1973). Violence without moral restraint: Reflections on the dehumanization of victims and victimizers. Journal of Social Issues, 29, 25-61.
28.
Lang, P.J., Bradley, M.M., & Cuthbart, B.N. (2005). International Affective Picture System (IAPS): Digitized photographs, instruction manual, and affective ratings. Technical Reports, A-6. Gainesville, FL: University of Florida.
29.
Leach, C.W., Ellemers, N., & Barreto, M. ( 2007). Group virtue: the importance of morality (vs. competence and sociability) in the positive evaluation of in-groups. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 93, 234-249.
30.
Leyens, J-Ph., Demoulin, S., Vaes, J., Gaunt, R., & Paladino, M.P. (2007). Infrahumanization: The wall of group differences. Social Issues and Policy Review , 1, 139-172.
31.
Leyens, J-Ph., Paladino, M.P., Rodríguez-Torres, R., Vaes, J., Demoulin, S., Rodríguez-Pérez, A., & Gaunt, R. (2000). The emotional side of prejudice: The role of secondary emotions. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 4, 186-197.
32.
Leyens, J-Ph., & Parke, R.D. ( 1975). Aggressive slides can induce a weapons effect. European Journal of Social Psychology, 5, 229-236.
33.
Leyens, J-Ph., Rodríguez-Pérez, A., Rodríguez-Torres , R., Gaunt, R., Paladino, M.P., Vaes, J., & Demoulin, S. (2001). Psychological essentialism and the differential attribution of uniquely human emotions to ingroups and outgroups. European Journal of Social Psychology, 31, 395-411.
34.
Opotow, S. ( 1990). Moral exclusion and injustice: An introduction. Journal of Social Issues, 46, 173-182.
35.
Otten, S., & Stapel, D.A. ( 2007). Who is this Donald? How social categorization affects aggression-priming effects. European Journal of Social Psychology , 37, 1000-1015.
36.
Srull, T., & Wyer, R.S. ( 1979). The role of category accessibility in the interpretation about persons: Some determinants and implications. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 1660-1672.
37.
Tiedens, L.Z. ( 2001). Anger and advancement versus sadness and subjugation: The effect of negative emotion expression on social status conferral. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, 86-94.
38.
Vaes, J., Paladino, M.P., Castelli, L., Leyens, J-Ph., & Giovanazzi, A. (2003). On the behavioral consequences of infrahumanization: The implicit role of uniquely human emotions in intergroup relations. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85, 1016-1034.
39.
Viki, G.T., Winchester, L., Titshall, L., Chisango, T., Pina, A., & Russell, R. ( 2006). Beyond secondary emotions: The infrahumanization of out-groups using words. Social Cognition, 24, 753-775.
40.
Wittenbrink, B., Judd, C.M., & Park, B. ( 2001). Spontaneous prejudice in context: Variability in automatically activated attitudes. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 81, 815-827.
