"The dark psychology of dehumanization, explained"

Vox published an article early March on the 'dark psychology of dehumanization'. We are currently living in a society with lots of divide and hate, and it was interesting to read an article explaining the psychology behind racism and other forms of dehumanization that happens in day-to-day life.

The article describes studies conducted by Nour Kteily, a psychologist at the Northwestern University, on dehumanization. The participants were mainly white Americans, and they were shown an image implying a human ancestor evolving to become what we are today. Below the image were a list of target groups, for example Australians, Arabs, and Russians. The participants were asked to rate the target group from 0 to 100 according to how much they had evolved. The study is very confronting and not at all subtle, however it did showcase that some participants ranked certain target groups as "closer to animals", demonstrating that there is still dehumanizing behaviour in society.

It is important to keep in mind that this study cannot be generalised to a wider population, as only white Americans were used as participants. There are also demand characteristics that may come into play as the participants may have deliberately changed their true personal views. The study also has low ecological validity as the activity of ranking different cultures is not exactly a normal task. An interesting extension of this experiment would be to use an "etic" approach and compare the results across different cultures.

This study reminded me of one of the outcomes that we learn in IB Psychology: Explain the formation of stereotypes and their effect on behaviour. People form biased judgements based on pre-conceived ideas. The effect of stereotyping is exactly what this article is based on- racism and dehumanization. Reading an article based on something we learnt in class is great as it helps to highlight that psychology can be applied everywhere.

The full article can be read at: https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2017/3/7/14456154/dehumanization-psychology-explained