A Superhumanization Bias in Whites’ Perceptions of Blacks

Abstract

The present research provides the first systematic empirical investigation into superhumanization, the attribution of supernatural, extrasensory, and magical mental and physical qualities to humans. Five studies test and support the hypothesis that White Americans superhumanize Black people relative to White people. Studies 1–2b demonstrate this phenomenon at an implicit level, showing that Whites preferentially associate Blacks versus Whites with superhuman versus human words on an implicit association test and on a categorization task. Studies 3–4 demonstrate this phenomenon at an explicit level, showing that Whites preferentially attribute superhuman capacities to Blacks versus Whites, and Study 4 specifically shows that superhumanization of Blacks predicts denial of pain to Black versus White targets. Together, these studies demonstrate a novel and potentially detrimental process through which Whites perceive Blacks.

Racial bias in pain assessment and treatment recommendations, and false beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites

“…Conversely, participants who endorsed fewer false beliefs (−1 SD) rated the black target as feeling more pain than the white target [β = −0.48, SE = 0.20, t(211) = −2.34, P = 0.020]. In other words, as in study 1, participants in study 2 who endorsed false beliefs about biological differences between blacks and whites exhibited a racial bias in pain perception similar to the bias shown in previous work (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17). Unexpectedly, participants who did not endorse such beliefs exhibited a bias in the opposite direction.…”

“…They are nonetheless consequential. Research has shown that biological conceptions and related beliefs are associated with greater acceptance of racial disparities (27) and even racial bias in pain perception (17). Indeed, in one study, white participants who believed black people can tolerate extreme heat more than white people can, for example, were more likely to think that black people feel less pain than do white people (17).…”

“…In fact, many people insist that black people are better athletes-stronger, faster, and more agile-as a result of natural selection and deliberate breeding practices during slavery (29)(30)(31)(32)(33). Research suggests that people even believe that black people are more likely than white people to be capable of fantastical mental and physical feats, such as withstanding extreme heat from burning coals (17). These biological conceptions of race are only weakly if at all correlated with racial attitudes (27,34).…”

“…In fact, recent work suggests that racial bias in pain treatment may stem, in part, from racial bias in perceptions of others' pain. This research has shown that people assume a priori that blacks feel less pain than do whites (11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17). In a study by Staton et al (14), for instance, patients were asked to report how much pain they were experiencing, and physicians were asked to rate how much pain they thought the patients were experiencing.…”

Intergroup Conflict Management Strategies From a Nobel Peace Laureate: The Case of José Ramos-Horta

“…From a theoretical standpoint, our findings relate to current literature on political mediation, particularly the role of super-humanization and de-humanization biases in intergroup conflict (Haslam & Loughnan, 2014;Waytz, Hoffman, & Trawalter, 2014). From slavery, to colonization, the holocaust, and current religious and political wars, intergroup conflict is often based on the assumption that "we" (the inner-group super-humans), are better than "them" (the outer-group infra-humans).…”