ArticleCognition2021
No convincing evidence outgroups are denied uniquely human characteristics: Distinguishing intergroup preference from trait-based dehumanization.
Article in Cognition, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- A Process Account of Dehumanization: Extending the Framework with a Developmental Research Agenda.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- De-gendering and dehumanization in mental representations of autistic men's and women's facial appearance.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Does feeling collective responsibility for intergroup harm lead to infrahumanization?PloS one · 2025Article
- Attribution of undesirable character traits, rather than trait-based dehumanization, predicts punishment decisions.Royal Society open science · 2024Article
- Animalistic slurs increase harm by changing perceptions of social desirability.Royal Society open science · 2023Article
- Only human after all? a pre-registered study on gaze behavior and humanity attributions to people with facial difference.PloS one · 2023Article
- Reduced helping intentions are better explained by the attribution of antisocial emotions than by 'infrahumanization'.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Filthy Animals: Integrating the Behavioral Immune System and Disgust into a Model of Prophylactic Dehumanization.Evolutionary psychological science · 2022Article
- Intergroup preference, not dehumanization, explains social biases in emotion attribution.Cognition · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
According to the dual model, outgroup members can be dehumanized by being thought to possess uniquely and characteristically human traits to a lesser extent than ingroup members. However, previous research on this topic has tended to investigate the attribution of human traits that are socially desirable in nature such as warmth, civility and rationality. As a result, it has not yet been possible to determine whether this form of dehumanization is distinct from intergroup preference and stereotyping. We first establish that participants associate undesirable (e.g., corrupt, jealous) as well as desirable (e.g., open-minded, generous) traits with humans. We then go on to show that participants tend to attribute desirable human traits more strongly to ingroup members but undesirable human traits more strongly to outgroup members. This pattern holds across three different intergroup contexts for which dehumanization effects have previously been reported: political opponents, immigrants and criminals. Taken together, these studies cast doubt on the claim that a trait-based account of representing others as 'less human' holds value in the study of intergroup bias.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.