An integrated psychology of (animalistic) dehumanization requires a focus on human-animal relations

Abstract

Relative to the study of prejudice and stereotyping, the systematic study of how we animalize outgroup members is a newcomer to the study of intergroup relations. With remarkable gains made in the last two decades, the field is now represented by distinct methods and approaches emphasized across camps, with recent calls for conceptual integration (see this Special Issue). Our central contention is that the existing literature focuses too much on humans (and the psychological stripping away of humanness from targets) with insufficient attention to animals, particularly regarding how we think about and treat animals (i.e., human-animal relations). How and why we animalize other people is systematically linked to how we overvalue humans relative to other animals; dehumanization of other people carries its sting and clout because animals are disregarded or exploited as entities deserving less protection and fewer rights relative to humans. We argue that the dehumanization field would benefit from this perspective, including the introduction of novel interventions, but also that the spillover benefits would help us to better understand human nature and our future challenges.