Brennan Robert A, Enock Florence E, Bunce Carl J, Over Harriet
Department of Psychology, University of York, York, United Kingdom.
The Institute of Future Media, Democracy and Society, Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland.
PLoS One. 2025 May 29;20(5):e0323292. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0323292. eCollection 2025.
Previous research has suggested that subtle dehumanization can occur as a consequence of harming others. According to this research, participants who feel a sense of collective responsibility for their ingroup contributing to the harm experienced by an outgroup may perceive members of that group as experiencing uniquely human emotions to a lesser extent, compared to when they do not feel responsible. We sought to understand whether these results replicate in two novel intergroup contexts: understanding UK residents' perceptions of those who disproportionately experience the harmful effects of climate change in Nigeria, and employees working in exploitative conditions in fast fashion supply chains. Across three well-powered and pre-registered studies, we successfully manipulated perceived harm against the target groups and perceived ingroup responsibility for that harm. However, we found no evidence for the previously reported relationship between one's sense of collective responsibility for harm and the perceived extent that target outgroup members experience uniquely human emotions. Instead, a more straightforward pattern was found in all three studies, whereby participants perceived outgroup members to experience negative emotions to a greater extent when harm towards them has been made salient. This trend was irrespective of whether the emotions were uniquely human (e.g., admiration, shame) or shared with other animals (e.g., joy, sadness). The often evoked relationship between the need to justify harm and the tendency to subtly dehumanize harmed outgroup members may be less common than is often assumed.
先前的研究表明，伤害他人可能会导致微妙的去人性化现象。根据这项研究，那些因本群体对另一群体所遭受的伤害负有集体责任感的参与者，相较于他们没有责任感时，可能会认为该群体成员在较小程度上体验到独特的人类情感。我们试图了解这些结果是否会在两种新的群体间情境中得到重现：一是了解英国居民对尼日利亚那些 disproportionately 承受气候变化有害影响的人群的看法，二是了解在快时尚供应链中处于剥削性工作条件下的员工的情况。在三项有充分效力且预先注册的研究中，我们成功操纵了对目标群体的感知伤害以及对该伤害的群体内责任感。然而，我们没有发现证据支持先前报道的对伤害的集体责任感与目标外群体成员被感知到体验独特人类情感的程度之间的关系。相反，在所有三项研究中都发现了一种更直接的模式，即当对外部群体成员的伤害变得显著时，参与者会认为他们在更大程度上体验到负面情绪。这种趋势与这些情绪是独特的人类情绪（如钦佩、羞耻）还是与其他动物共有的情绪（如喜悦、悲伤）无关。为伤害行为进行辩护的需求与对受伤害的外部群体成员进行微妙去人性化的倾向之间经常被提及的关系，可能并不像通常所认为的那么普遍。
