When dehumanization does (and does not) matter: Exploring the relationship between social justice motivations, avoidant behaviors, and intentions to help individuals experiencing homelessness

Abstract

Highly stigmatized groups, such as those experiencing homelessness, commonly encounter both animalistic and mechanistic dehumanization. Yet, how and when each form is related to the treatment of such groups is not well understood. We explored the relative importance of animalistic and mechanistic dehumanization in predicting behaviors to avoid and willingness to help individuals experiencing homelessness. Additionally, we probed social justice importance and engagement as potential moderators of the relationship between dehumanization and behavior. Study 1 demonstrated that animalistic dehumanization was a more significant predictor of avoidant behaviors than mechanistic dehumanization. Notably, social justice motivations moderated this relationship such that when individuals were low in social justice motivations, avoidance was high irrespective of dehumanizing attitudes. Study 2 aimed to replicate these findings in a more general sample with attention to a new outcome variable—intentions to help individuals experiencing homelessness. Results again demonstrated that animalistic dehumanization was a stronger predictor of behavior than mechanistic dehumanization. Unlike Study 1, social justice motivations did not moderate the relationship between dehumanization and intentions to help. Rather, social justice importance was a stronger predictor of variance in willingness to help than dehumanizing attitudes. Together, our findings suggest that the personal importance of social justice issues may be just as vital as reducing negative attitudes to increase positive engagement with individuals experiencing homelessness and potentially others who belong to similarly dehumanized groups.

Faith in Action? Exploring the Relationship between Public and Private Religiosity, Race, and Social Justice among Christian College Students

“…On the other hand, it is possible that prominent theological messages unintentionally reinforce an acceptance of the status quo or minimize the importance of present-day social injustices. Recent research has demonstrated that without a strong sense that social justice issues are personally important, positive attitudes toward others who are marginalized are less likely to translate into positive actions (Tausen et al, in press). In other words, if Christian institutions fail to instill a sense of personal justice importance, other fundamental messages related to common human dignity and value (e.g., the Imago Dei) and loving one’s neighbor may be less likely to be embodied.…”

“…Two additional items probed social justice attitudes and actions separate from faith (see Tausen et al, in press). Responses were assessed using a 100-point analogue scale with appropriate anchors.…”

“…Although the modification of the existing measures was due to the unique questions about faith and social justice posed in this work, we also recognize that the results should be interpreted in light of this potential limitation of the study instruments. Despite being face valid, consistent with questions utilized to assess the personal importance of suppressing prejudice (Plant & Devine, 1998), and meaningful predictors of behavioral intentions (Tausen et al, in press), future work examining the replicability of this work as well as the extent to which the utilized measures correspond to more objective behavioral measures of social justice activism will be particularly important.…”

“…Whether grounded in one’s own privilege and/or psychological process like attribution theory and the “Belief in a Just World,” cultural humility (Fisher-Borne et al, 2015) and education about the historical roots of injustice are important first steps to change (Anderson & Sánchez, 2021; Ray & Gibbons, 2021). Indeed, the lived experience of marginalization (Peifer et al, 2016; Uehline & Yalch, 2021; Wang et al, 2003), awareness of others’ negative life events (Shin & Hampton, 2021), endorsement of social justice issues as personally important (Tausen et al, in press), and conversational engagement with one’s peers about social justice issues (Kim & Tausen, 2021) all predict social justice–related outcomes such as ethnocultural empathy, activism, and support for, marginalized group members. While far from exhaustive, what these findings suggest is that individual experiences and motivations are core components of social justice engagement.…”

Empathy helps, dehumanization harms: Beliefs about the causes of homelessness are (in)directly related to intentions to help and harm those who are unhoused

“…(Bastian & Haslam, 2011). The measure has been commonly adapted to measure dehumanization perceptions of individuals experiencing homelessness (e.g., Tausen et al, 2023).…”