Abstract
Despite the emergence of research into interpersonal dehumanization, there has been little by way of empirical investigation of the phenomenon within the context of romantic relationships. To address this, we introduce and validate the Dehumanization in Romantic Relationships Scale (DIRRS), a self-report measure of dehumanization perpetration and targeting within close relationships. In Study 1 (N = 1251, M age = 25.35, SD = 6.03), confirmatory factor analysis revealed that the dimensionality of interpersonal dehumanization may be more nuanced than first thought. Specifically, a four factor first-order structure [comprised of factors that relate to denials of human uniqueness (i.e., immature and unrefined) and human nature (i.e., exploitable and emotionless) was found to be the best fit to the data]. These results were replicated on a different sample in Study 2 (N = 847, M age = 23.40, SD = 6.43)—in addition to the assessment of criterion-related validity. Study 3 (N = 328, M age = 23.40, SD = 6.43) cross-validated the criterion-related validity reported in Study 2, and in addition, highlights that dehumanization is also associated with emotional and physical abuse. This research extends theory on interpersonal dehumanization and provides an empirically validated measure to reliably assess the occurrence of dehumanization within romantic relationships.
Highlights
Dehumanization—defined as the denial of uniquely or fundamentally human characteristics to another—is considered to occur across a range of contexts including moral atrocities related to ethnic cleansing, inter-racial conflicts, as well as medical and organizational settings (Bain et al, 2014; Haslam and Stratemeyer, 2016)
Given that the secondary aim of this research was to determine the dimensional composition of interpersonal dehumanization, confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) was used to model two alternative factor structures – Model 1 evaluated the unidimensional conceptualization of dehumanization, while Model 2 evaluated the two-dimensional conceptualization
We report on the cross-validation of the construct validity of the two versions of the DIIRS using CFA
Summary
Dehumanization—defined as the denial of uniquely or fundamentally human characteristics to another—is considered to occur across a range of contexts including moral atrocities related to ethnic cleansing, inter-racial conflicts, as well as medical and organizational settings (Bain et al, 2014; Haslam and Stratemeyer, 2016). Dehumanization can take the form of implicit and commonplace behaviors that manifest within interpersonal contexts, but damage relational bonds (e.g., social ostracism and contempt; Bastian and Haslam, 2011; Bastian et al, 2014). Many of the behaviors identified as negative and toxic within romantic relationships such as hostility, ridicule, and being controlling reflect dehumanization (Pizzirani and Karantzas, 2019). Such behaviors deny the target (i.e., the romantic partner) their sense of agency, or treats them as if they have no feelings or lack intelligence (Bastian and Haslam, 2011). Interpersonal dehumanization within close relationships is often characteristic of common and subtle maltreatments, such as feigning disinterest, acting in ways that may disrespect another, or minor exploitative acts such as requesting favors that see another treated as a means to an end (Bastian et al, 2014)
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