ArticleScientific reports2022
Reduced helping intentions are better explained by the attribution of antisocial emotions than by 'infrahumanization'.
Article in Scientific reports, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- To what extent is research on infrahumanization confounded by intergroup preference?Royal Society open science · 2025Article
- 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
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2 authors.
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Abstract
We challenge the explanatory value of one of the most prominent psychological models of dehumanization-infrahumanization theory-which holds that outgroup members are subtly dehumanized by being denied human emotions. Of central importance to this theory is the claim that, to the extent that other people are 'infrahumanized', they are less likely to be helped. We examine this hypothesised relationship across four pre-registered and well powered studies. We do not find that attributing all uniquely human emotions to others is positively associated with helping intentions towards them. Instead, we find that attributing prosocial emotions is positively associated with helping intentions and attributing antisocial emotions is negatively associated with helping intentions, regardless of emotion humanness. In our data, what previously appeared to be an association between subtle dehumanization and reduced helping is better explained by the tendency to avoid helping others when we view them negatively.
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