Abstract
Power gives people the ability to control themselves and their environment, and this control is considered a fundamental human need. We investigated whether experiencing powerlessness induces the experience of self-dehumanization using three methods: priming, role-playing, and cueing. People in a position of low power viewed themselves (Experiments 1–3) as less human relative to people in a position of high power; furthermore, people with low power believed that they were viewed as less human by others as well (Experiments 2–3). In all of the experiments, human nature traits were most negatively affected by powerlessness in self-perception judgments, and uniquely human traits were most negatively affected by powerlessness in meta-perception judgments. Furthermore, the powerless believed they were viewed as less human not only by the powerful people but also the outside observers of the power dynamic. Self-dehumanization also appears to be a consequence of powerlessness rather than an incidental result of a change in mood or a negative self-view. Our findings are an important extension of previous work on the adverse effects of powerlessness and dehumanization.
Highlights
Power allows people to control outcomes with respect to both the environment and the self [1,2,3,4,5]. This control is considered to be a fundamental human need [6, 7]; it follows that powerlessness will disrupt an individual’s sense of humanity, which coincides with the fact that many civilizations have equated power deprivation with humbleness, lowliness, and fewer expressed human traits [8]
Support was found for the importance of Human nature (HN) traits, with lower power negatively affecting the self-perceived sense of shared humanity (HN traits)
We did not find any effect of power on self-perceived uniquely human (UH) traits
Summary
Power allows people to control outcomes with respect to both the environment and the self [1,2,3,4,5] This control is considered to be a fundamental human need [6, 7]; it follows that powerlessness will disrupt an individual’s sense of humanity, which coincides with the fact that many civilizations have equated power deprivation with humbleness, lowliness, and fewer expressed human traits [8]. Human nature (HN) traits are attributes that are biologically based, innate, shared, fundamental, or essential features of humanity. They are associated with cognitive flexibility, emotional reactivity, agency, openness, and individuality [10]. Attributing a lack of HN traits to people is akin to explicitly or implicitly perceiving or acting toward those people as PLOS ONE | DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0125721 May 28, 2015
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