Animalistic dehumanisation as a social influence strategy

The phenomenon of animalistic dehumanisation has been extensively studied in social psychology but mostly as an intergroup relations tool, serving to justify the mistreatment of an outgroup. Surprisingly, however, dehumanisation has not been approached as an influence strategy, serving to convince the ingroup to mistreat an outgroup. In the present article, we investigate such possible influence effects. We propose that a message depicting an outgroup in animalised terms would lead to lasting unfavourable outgroup attitudes because the animal essence conveyed through the message would immunise ingroup members against potential subsequent counterinfluence attempts. In one experimental study we compared the effect of three influence messages depicting a despised outgroup (Roma beggars) in negative animalised vs. negative humanised vs. positive humanised terms, followed by a counterpropaganda message advocating for Roma beggars' rights. Results show that the animalisation message leads to a lasting animalised perception of the outgroup (eliciting disgust and repugnancy) that resists exposure to the counterpropaganda positive message. In contrast, the negative humanisation message provokes a brief negative perception of the group (pre-counterpropaganda) that disappears after exposure to the counterpropaganda. The animalisation message also leads to more negative attitudes and behavioural intentions towards Roma beggars expressed after the counterpropaganda message (discrimination in the work place, hiring intentions, and social proximity), while the negative humanisation message does not, showing no difference from the positive humanisation message. These results suggest that animalistic dehumanisation can indeed serve as an influence strategy immunising influence targets against subsequent counterpropaganda attempts. We discuss implications in the light of essentialisation, forms of dehumanisation and group status, and current non-discriminatory norms

The Social Cohesion Investment: Supplementary technical document

This document complements the Social Cohesion Investment report and reports additional technical details on methods and statistics used to produce the findings of the report

The unkindest cut of all: A quantitative study of betrayal narratives

All close relationships come with the risk of experiencing betrayal. Despite its relevance for interpersonal relationships, the literature lacks updated knowledge about the types of betrayals people are more likely to experience and their differential consequences. This paper's aim is twofold: first, to replicate and update past findings from the 1990s to 2000s regarding the typology of betrayal narratives; and second, to provide a novel test of the role of causal attributions for response to the betrayal. It presents a quantitative analysis of more than 900 betrayal narratives from British, French and Swiss respondents (students and community participants). Participants freely reported a past episode of betrayal (betrayal narrative). Results revealed that unfaithfulness from a romantic partner was the most commonly reported instance of betrayal (17%), but there were also frequent occurrences of disappointing one's hopes and expectations, lying, revealing secrets, manipulating and taking advantage, gossiping and slandering, cutting ties unexpectedly, and failing to offer assistance during time of need. Most cases involved a close friend (27%) or romantic partner (30%); while others involved family members and people in the workplace. The most common behavioural responses were to confront or cut ties with the betrayer. Forgiveness seemed possible, especially for cases that had triggered less anger. Revenge was rarely reported overall, except in cases that had triggered more anger. Finally, causal attributions (to intrinsic vs. group‐based characteristics of the betrayer, to the situation and to the victim themselves) were related to different response to the betrayal and more specifically to forgiveness. These results contribute to developing a better typology of betrayal in interpersonal relationships. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement

Look past the divide: Social dominance, authoritarianism, future thinking, and superordinate identity underlie the environmental political divide

Research in social and political science has documented a political divide on environmental issues, describing greater environmental concern as well as more proenvironmental attitudes and behaviours amongst left-wing (or liberal) than right-wing (or conservative) citizens. However, the specific psychological components that underlie this divide remain underexplored. In the present study, we explore the role of several socio-cognitive components known to be associated with political orientation and assess how well each can account for the relationship between political orientation and proenvironmental views. Evidence from a large-scale survey in the UK ( N = 1,147) reveals that higher right-wing authoritarianism, higher social dominance orientation, lower future thinking and lower superordinate (European) identity, together accounted for half the effect of political orientation. In contrast, belief in a just world, system justification, and ingroup (British) identity, were not significantly related to proenvironmental views. The present work advances past research by informing which psychological routes may be useful for interventions and persuasion to bridge the political divide on environmental issues

Aware of the future? Adaptation and refinement of the Futures Consciousness Scale

Introduction: Futures consciousness (FC) refers to the capacity that a person has for understanding, anticipating, and preparing for the future. A psychometric instrument, the FC scale, was recently developed to measure FC as an interindividual difference. However, this initial scale suffered from some shortcomings due to a few underperforming items. Objectives: In this paper, we present and validate the revised FC scale, which aims to address these shortcomings. Methods and Results: Data from a representative sample of N = 1,684 British participants demonstrated good psychometric properties of the revised scale (and better than the original) as well as good predictive validity. Specifically, individuals' scores were positively related to self-reported future-oriented behavior, such as engagement in civic collective action and general engagement in politics. The five-dimensional structure of the scale was also replicated. Conclusion: The revised FC scale proves a reliable tool that can be used by both researchers and practitioners

Animalistic dehumanisation as a social influence strategy

The phenomenon of animalistic dehumanisation has been extensively studied in social psychology, but mostly as an intergroup relations tool used to justify the mistreatment of an outgroup. Surprisingly, however, dehumanisation has not been approached as an influence strategy to convince the ingroup to mistreat an outgroup. In the present article, we investigate these possible influence effects. We propose that a message depicting an outgroup in negative animalised terms would lead to lasting unfavourable outgroup attitudes because the animal essence conveyed through the message would immunise ingroup members against subsequent counterinfluence attempts. In one experimental study we compared the effect of three influence messages depicting a despised outgroup (Roma beggars) in negative animalised vs. negative humanised vs. positive humanised terms, followed by a counterpropaganda message advocating for Roma beggars’ rights. Results show that the animalisation message leads to a lasting animalised perception of the outgroup (eliciting disgust and repugnancy) that resists exposure to the counterpropaganda positive message. In contrast, the negative humanisation message provokes a brief negative perception of the group (pre-counterpropaganda) that disappears after exposure to the counterpropaganda. The animalisation message also leads to more negative attitudes and discriminatory behavioural intentions towards Roma beggars expressed after the counterpropaganda message (i.e., discrimination in the workplace, hiring intentions, and social proximity), whilst the negative humanisation message does not, showing no difference with the positive humanisation message. These results suggest that animalistic dehumanisation indeed acts as an influence strategy, immunising targets against subsequent counterpropaganda attempts. We discuss implications in the light of essentialisation, forms of dehumanisation and group status, and current non-discriminatory norms

Showing with whom I belong: The desire to belong publicly on social media

Despite a plethora of social media use research, surprisingly little is known about what social media users post about, and, more importantly, why . In three studies ( N = 1,140), we present novel evidence for a disposition describing individual differences in the desire to display belonging on social media: the desire to belong publicly (DTBP). We validate an eight-item DTBP scale, encompassing the desire to display both a high quantity (e.g., having many friends) and a high quality of belonging (e.g., having close friends) on social media. The scale shows good internal consistency and test-retest reliability over two weeks. DTBP is related to, but conceptually distinct from neighboring constructs such as need to belong and need for popularity, as well as other personality dimensions known to drive social media behaviors such as extraversion, public self-consciousness, and social comparison propensity. DTBP is related to indicators of active and passive social media use, daily use of social media, frequency of posting about belonging, and social media addiction, above and beyond other constructs, and on different social media platforms (i.e., Instagram and Facebook). In sum, DTBP is a reliable and valid construct that aids the understanding of why and how individuals use social media

Mobilising IDEAS in the COVID-19 pandemic: Anti-lockdown actions and the Identity-Deprivation-Efficacy-Action-Subjective well-being model

We tested how well the Identity-Deprivation-Efficacy-Action-Subjective-wellbeing (IDEAS) model predicts citizens’ intentions to engage in collective action opposing their government, and their subjective well-being. Representative samples from Scotland, Wales, and the county of Kent in England were surveyed during the COVID-19 pandemic in October 2020 (N = 1,536). Results largely support our preregistered hypotheses, confirming that the IDEAS model offers a valid explanatory framework for how relative deprivation predicts both collective action opposing one’s government and levels of subjective well-being. In the case of collective action, there were significant effects of collective relative deprivation (cognitive and affective) and collective efficacy on social change beliefs, which in turn positively predicted collective action intentions. The role of national identification was more nuanced, revealing both negative indirect effects via collective efficacy and relative deprivation, and a positive indirect effect via political orientation. Findings also suggest interesting directions for future research on national identification

People largely perceive local government communications about COVID-19 as embodying greater honesty, credibility, and empathy than those of the UK government

Dominic Abrams, Jo Broadwood, Fanny Lalot, and Kaya Davies Hayon present the findings of research examining whether people from across the UK found communication about COVID-19 honest and credible, empathic, clear, accessible, and whether it met the needs of their community. They find that both UK and local government communications were perceived on average as fairly clear and as using understandable language, but that significant differences exist on other measures