Meta-humanization reduces prejudice, even under high intergroup threat.

Abstract

Meta-dehumanization, the perception your group has been given less than human qualities, contributes to a vicious cycle of outgroup dehumanization and hostility, such as, hate crimes and support for discriminatory policies. Minimal research has investigated potential benefits of meta-humanization, or perceiving your group has been given dignified qualities. Across seven studies (N = 1,261) in Canada and the United Kingdom, we focus on Muslimnon-Muslim relations and provide the first empirical evidence to suggest that (a) there is an indirect effect of meta-humanization through outgroup humanization that reduces prejudice, and (b) that perceived high intergroup threat moderates the indirect effect of metahumanization. Studies 1a and 1b reveal that humanization mediates the indirect effect of meta-humanization on prejudice. Studies 2a and 2b replicate these results as well as demonstrate that perceived threat moderates the indirect effect, and Study 2c extends this by testing the perspective of Muslims. Studies 3a and 3b further demonstrate an interaction between high threat and meta-humanization on prejudice and interest in intergroup contact. We conclude by discussing the implications of our results for the growing literature on metadehumanization, meta-humanization and intergroup relations more broadly.

Dehumanization: trends, insights, and challenges

“…The same is true of dehumanization: American political partisans think members of the other party dehumanize them nearly three times more than is actually the case [62,63]. Fortunately, meta-dehumanization appears to be corrigible: informing non-Muslim Westerners that Muslims in the Middle East consider them fully human reduces their blatant dehumanization of Muslims [104,107], particularly among those who perceive Muslims to be most threatening at baseline [107]. Other work in Kosovo and North Macedonia showed that participants told an outgroup considered their own group fully human were more likely to empathize with and accept the help of an outgroup member [108].…”

Stop looking at me! associations between men's partner‐objectification and women's self‐objectification, body shame and life satisfaction in romantic relationships

“…For example, in the aforementioned studies (Ramsey et al, 2017; Ramsey & Hoyt, 2015), women were asked to evaluate the extent to which their partner surveyed their bodies and tested the relationship of such perceptions with women's self‐objectification. On the one hand, meta‐perceptions are important indicators of one's attitudes and behaviours (e.g., Grutterink & Meister, 2021; Pavetich & Stathi, 2021); on the other hand, however, they are likely affected by a priori attitudes toward their partner, cognitive biases or self‐enhancement motives (e.g., Sedikides & Gregg, 2008) and, thus, they cannot be considered as a fully reliable indicator of partner's tendency to objectify.…”

Investigating antecedents of Islamophobia: The role of perceived control over terrorism, threat, meta‐dehumanization, and dehumanization

“…Previous research has demonstrated a relationship between control, prejudice, and threat (Greenaway et al, 2014), threat and dehumanization (Haslam & Loughana, 2014), and meta‐dehumanization, dehumanization, and hostility (Kteily & Bruneau, 2017; Pavetich & Stathi, 2020). The current research drew from these topics to theoretically extend the limited literature investigating antecedents and outcomes of meta‐dehumanization.…”

“…Previous research demonstrated that those who dehumanize are more likely to support aggressive policies, and those who are dehumanized are in turn more likely to act in aggressive ways that perpetuate the existing dehumanizing views (Kteily et al, 2016; Pavetich & Stathi, 2020). In line with this, the rise of uncertainty, aggressive political discourse, and negative stereotypes revolving around Muslims creates an atmosphere of hostility for intergroup relations.…”

“…Although understanding negative consequences of these variables is vitally important, future work should aim to focus on meta‐humanization as it is equally important to identify ways to break the cycle of prejudice and intergroup hostility. Pavetich and Stathi (2020) demonstrated that priming meta‐humanization resulted in decreased out‐group dehumanization and prejudice between Muslims and non‐Muslims. This is a noteworthy finding that would benefit from future research.…”