Humanizing the Self: Moderators of the Attribution of Lesser Humanness to Others
- 1 January 2007
- journal article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin
- Vol. 33 (1), 57-68
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167206293191
Abstract
Three studies investigated moderators of the tendency to attribute greater humanness to the self than to others, an interpersonal counterpart of outgroup infra-humanization. Study 1 demonstrated that this self-humanizing effect is reduced when the other is the focus of comparison. Study 2 showed that the effect is reduced when the other is individuated. Study 3 indicated that empathy does not moderate self-humanizing: Self-humanizing failed to correlate negatively with dispositional empathy or perspective-taking. Study 3 also indicated that abstract construal moderates the self-humanizing effect using a temporal comparison. Participants rated their future self, but not their past self, as less human than their present self. Studies 1 and 3 also showed that self-humanizing is greater for undesirable traits: People may view their failings as “only human.” All findings were distinct from those attributable to self-enhancement. Self-humanizing may reflect a combination of egocentrism, focalism, abstract representation of others, and motivated processes.This publication has 31 references indexed in Scilit:
- Dehumanization: An Integrative ReviewPersonality and Social Psychology Review, 2006
- Infrahumanization or Familiarity? Attribution of Uniquely Human Emotions to the Self, the Ingroup, and the OutgroupPersonality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2005
- Biases in Social Comparative Judgments: The Role of Nonmotivated Factors in Above-Average and Comparative-Optimism Effects.Psychological Bulletin, 2004
- Is the Self-Concept a Habitual Referent in Judgments of Similarity?Psychological Science, 1996
- Effect of perspective taking on the cognitive representation of persons: A merging of self and other.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1996
- Personal contact, individuation, and the better-than-average effect.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1995
- Asymmetry in the estimation of interpersonal distance and identity affirmationEuropean Journal of Social Psychology, 1989
- Emotional reactions to dramatic film stimuli: The influence of cognitive and emotional empathy.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1987
- Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach.Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1983
- On the so‐called ‘superior conformity of the self’ behavior: Twenty experimental investigationsEuropean Journal of Social Psychology, 1975