Socioeconomic Status and Dehumanization in India: Elaboration of the Stereotype Content Model in a Non-WEIRD Sample

A perceiver’s socioeconomic status (SES) should influence social perceptions toward others. However, there is little evidence for this effect within and beyond Western samples. We hence evaluate the relationship between perceiver SES and dehumanized perception in a society where status is historically defined: India. Across two studies, we hypothesized that perceiver SES would predict dehumanization toward societal outcasts—beggars—and norm violators. Replicating previous work, in Study 1, upper SES perceivers dehumanized beggars more than lower SES perceivers; accounted for by low self-reported contact likelihood. In Study 2, norm violators were perceived as less human but more so by lower rather than upper SES perceivers. This novel finding was partially explained by perceivers viewing female violators as less prototypical, aligned with theorizing in gender research. Our results indicate that SES influences dehumanization via contact likelihood as well as the perceived normativity of a targets’ behavio

Socioeconomic Status and Dehumanization in India: Elaboration of the Stereotype Content Model in a Non-WEIRD Sample

A perceiver’s socioeconomic status (SES) should influence social perceptions toward others. However, there is little evidence for this effect within and beyond Western samples. We hence evaluate the relationship between perceiver SES and dehumanized perception in a society where status is historically defined: India. Across two studies, we hypothesized that perceiver SES would predict dehumanization toward societal outcasts—beggars—and norm violators. Replicating previous work, in Study 1, upper SES perceivers dehumanized beggars more than lower SES perceivers; accounted for by low self-reported contact likelihood. In Study 2, norm violators were perceived as less human but more so by lower rather than upper SES perceivers. This novel finding was partially explained by perceivers viewing female violators as less prototypical, aligned with theorizing in gender research. Our results indicate that SES influences dehumanization via contact likelihood as well as the perceived normativity of a targets’ behavio

Mind your meat: Religious differences in the social perception of animals

While previous work demonstrated that animals are categorised based on their edibility, little research has systematically evaluated the role of religion in the perception of animal edibility, particularly when specific animals are deemed sacred in a religion. In two studies, we explored a key psychological mechanism through which sacred animals are deemed inedible by members of a faith: mind attribution. In Study 1, non-vegetarian Hindus in Singapore (N = 70) evaluated 19 animals that differed in terms of their sacredness and edibility. Results showed that participants categorised animals into three groups: holy animals (high sacredness but low edibility), food animals (low sacredness but high edibility) and neutral animals (low sacredness and low edibility). Holy animals were deemed to possess greater mental life compared to other animal categories. In Study 2, we replicated this key finding with Hindus in India (N = 100), and further demonstrated that the observed pattern of results was specific to Hindus but not Muslims (N = 90). In both studies, mind attribution mediated the negative association between sacredness and edibility. Our findings illustrate how religious groups diverge in animal perception, thereby highlighting the role of mind attribution as a crucial link between sacredness and edibility

Expressing positive emotions as they are: Spontaneous production, display rules, and the role of culture

Although we experience a range of pleasant feelings as part of our everyday lives (i.e., amusement, pride, sexual desire), little is known about the behaviors we use to express each of these positive emotions. This dissertation hence aims to advance our understanding of positive emotional expressions by answering three related questions: (a) how are specific positive emotions spontaneously produced on the face? (b) are there rules for displaying specific positive emotions, and if so, what are the social consequences of breaking these rules? (c) to what extent does culture influence the expression of positive emotions? We first demonstrate that even when expressed spontaneously, at least 16 specific positive emotions (i.e., awe, hope, relief, excitement) are associated with particular sets of facial behaviors (Chapter 2). We next illustrate that display rules apply even for emotions that are experienced as pleasant, (Chapter 3: i.e., feeling moved is deemed less appropriate for expression than interest), and breaking these rules can lead to social ramifications for the expresser (Chapter 4: i.e., overtly triumphant individuals are socially avoided, as are people who downplay their gratitude). Finally, we comment on the role of culture, first by reviewing representative sets of findings on positive emotional expressions (Chapter 5), then by empirically investigating if people from multiple cultures agree on how specific positive emotions are expressed (Chapter 6). Our assessments point to cross-cultural similarities complemented by culturally specific patterns of expressions. Taken together, this dissertation highlights the central role of emotion specificity in understanding expressions of feeling good

Expressing positive emotions as they are: Spontaneous production, display rules, and the role of culture

Although we experience a range of pleasant feelings as part of our everyday lives (i.e., amusement, pride, sexual desire), little is known about the behaviors we use to express each of these positive emotions. This dissertation hence aims to advance our understanding of positive emotional expressions by answering three related questions: (a) how are specific positive emotions spontaneously produced on the face? (b) are there rules for displaying specific positive emotions, and if so, what are the social consequences of breaking these rules? (c) to what extent does culture influence the expression of positive emotions? We first demonstrate that even when expressed spontaneously, at least 16 specific positive emotions (i.e., awe, hope, relief, excitement) are associated with particular sets of facial behaviors (Chapter 2). We next illustrate that display rules apply even for emotions that are experienced as pleasant, (Chapter 3: i.e., feeling moved is deemed less appropriate for expression than interest), and breaking these rules can lead to social ramifications for the expresser (Chapter 4: i.e., overtly triumphant individuals are socially avoided, as are people who downplay their gratitude). Finally, we comment on the role of culture, first by reviewing representative sets of findings on positive emotional expressions (Chapter 5), then by empirically investigating if people from multiple cultures agree on how specific positive emotions are expressed (Chapter 6). Our assessments point to cross-cultural similarities complemented by culturally specific patterns of expressions. Taken together, this dissertation highlights the central role of emotion specificity in understanding expressions of feeling good

Do People Agree on How Positive Emotions are Expressed? A Survey of Four Emotions and Five Modalities across 11 Cultures

While much is known about how negative emotions are expressed in different modalities, our understanding of the nonverbal expressions of positive emotions remains limited. In the present research, we draw upon disparate lines of theoretical and empirical work on positive emotions, and systematically examine which channels are thought to be used for expressing four positive emotions: feeling moved, gratitude, interest, and triumph. Employing the intersubjective approach, an established method in cross-cultural psychology, we first explored how the four positive emotions were reported to be expressed in two North American community samples (Studies 1a and 1b: n = 1466). We next confirmed the cross-cultural generalizability of our findings by surveying respondents from ten countries that diverged on cultural values (Study 2: n = 1826). Feeling moved was thought to be signaled with facial expressions, gratitude with the use of words, interest with words, face and voice, and triumph with body posture, vocal cues, facial expressions, and words. These findings provide cross-culturally consistent findings of differential expressions across positive emotions. Notably, positive emotions were thought to be expressed via modalities that go beyond the face