How to be good (or bad): On the fakeability of dehumanization and prejudice against outgroups

Abstract

According to infrahumanization theory, people ascribe outgroups lesser humanity than their ingroup. Infrahumanization has been proposed as a relatively subtle and indirect form of emotional prejudice. We tested this assumption further in an experiment during which participants were asked to take on the perspective of a prejudiced or a nonprejudiced person or received no such instruction before completing a questionnaire that included measures of dehumanization and explicit prejudice. Results showed that whereas the infrahumanization effect was unbiased by faking instructions, participants readily faked their responses on the more direct measure of prejudice. The results support the notion that infrahumanization represents a rather indirect form of discrimination that is less prone to social desirability tendencies than other self-report measures of prejudice. Moreover, our findings point to the importance of emotion valence in the context of infrahumanizing others. Implications of our findings will be disussed.