Abstract
Historically, dehumanization has enabled members of advantaged groups to ‘morally disengage’ from disadvantaged group suffering, thereby facilitating acts of intergroup aggression such as colonization, slavery and genocide. But is blatant dehumanization exclusive to those at the top ‘looking down’, or might disadvantaged groups similarly dehumanize those who dominate them? We examined this question in the context of intergroup warfare in which the disadvantaged group shoulders a disproportionate share of casualties and may be especially likely to question the humanity of the advantaged group. Specifically, we assessed blatant dehumanization in the context of stark asymmetric conflict between Israelis (Study 1; N = 521) and Palestinians (Study 2; N = 354) during the 2014 Gaza war. We observed that (a) community samples of Israelis and Palestinians expressed extreme (and comparable) levels of blatant dehumanization, (b) blatant dehumanization was uniquely associated with outcomes related to outgroup hostility for both groups, even after accounting for political ideologies known to strongly predict outgroup aggression, and (c) the strength of association between blatant dehumanization and outcomes was similar across both groups. This study illuminates the striking potency and symmetry of blatant dehumanization among those on both sides of an active asymmetric conflict.
Highlights
Humans have in place strong moral prohibitions and psychological restraints against harming others
We further expected that blatant dehumanization by the disempowered group towards the empowered group would be uniquely predictive of conflict-relevant outcomes, just as blatant dehumanization by empowered groups predict such outcomes. Confirmation of these predictions would serve as a strong proof-of-principle that blatant dehumanization can occur and function both up and down a power gradient during asymmetric conflict. We examined these questions by exploring the prevalence and consequences of blatant dehumanization within community samples of Israelis and Palestinians that were broadly comparable in terms of gender, education and conservatism
During the 2014 Gaza war, our sample of Israelis expressed extremely hostile attitudes towards Palestinians, including the highest levels of blatant dehumanization towards any outgroup observed to date using the ‘Ascent of man’ measure of blatant dehumanization
Summary
“Wars begin in the minds of men.”–United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) constitution preamble. As the 2014 Gaza war unfolded and ingroup casualties mounted, such perceptions are likely to have been salient, making this an ideal context in which blatant dehumanization up the power gradient might emerge (see [17]) This view is in line with social identity approaches to intergroup relations, which suggest that individuals generally favor their own groups over outgroups across a range of evaluations and behaviors, a pattern that can escalate to outgroup derogation under conditions of conflict [18]. Confirmation of these predictions would serve as a strong proof-of-principle that blatant dehumanization can occur and function both up and down a power gradient during asymmetric conflict We examined these questions by exploring the prevalence and consequences of blatant dehumanization within community samples of Israelis and Palestinians that were broadly comparable in terms of gender, education and conservatism. We investigate these important questions in a unique and important context (the 2014 Gaza war), when dehumanization and aggression were highly relevant
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