If we have something in common, I consider you more human: Crossed categorisations and super-ordinate self-categorisations as moderators od de-humanisation

Historicaleventsofthe Nineteenth Centuryshowed how destructive prejudice and discrimination may be,leading socialscientiststoconsiderindepth such degenerated intergroup relations.The study presented here,although notconfronting directlyprejudice from the perspective ofvictims and perpetrators,was aimed atshading lightatthe processes underlining a particularlydramaticform ofprejudice which involves the denialof humanness tothe Others,thatistosay de-humanisation. As argued by severalscholars,de-humanisation mightbe deeplyrelated to “aggravated”forms ofdiscrimination,prejudice and devaluation ofindividualsand groups, thus leading toorenabling aggression and violence againstotherhuman beings (cf. Bandura,Underwood,& Fromson,1975;Kelman,1973;Staub,1989;Struch & Schwartz, 1989). More indetails,thiscontribution was intended tounderline a few conditions within the intergroup frame ofanalysisunderwhich prejudice mightassume heavy connotations such as de-humanisation againstthe Others,as wellas conditions underwhich prejudice mightbe diminished. Thisstudy tested the jointeffectsofcrossed categorizations and salience ofsuperordinatelevelofself-categorization as human beings (cf.Turner,Hogg,Oakes,Reicher,& Wetherell,1987)as moderatorsofde-humanisation,measured through a subtlemeasure such as the attribution ofuniquelyhuman emotions (i.e.,infra-humanisation,Leyens etal., 2000)and a more explicitone such as the attribution ofsome ofthe Human Rightsstated inthe UniversalDeclaration ofHuman Rights. Crossed categorizations were operationalized as two orthogonalcategory me mberships,thatisReligion (Christian vs.Muslim)and Skin Colour(Whitevs.Black)ofa generictarget.Super-ordinatelevelofself-categorisation as human beings was primed asking participantstoansweran identification scalewiththe human group.Participants were asked toattributeuniquelyhuman emotions and human rightstothe target. Inthe no prime condition,the classicalinfra-humanisation pattern ofresults,as well as a corresponding de-humanisation one,was found:thatistosay,participantsfully humanized onlythe targetclosertotheiringroup (i.e.,WhiteChristian).Whereas,inthe super-ordinate categorization salience condition resultsshowed the hypothesized joint effectofcrossed categorizations and ofsuper-ordinate categorization salience in moderating infra-humanisation and de-humanisation oftargetsaccepted withinthe human ingroup.More indetails,inthe super-ordinate salience condition,the Black Christian target was “super-humanized”,incomparison withthe WhiteChristian one,representing participants’ingroup. Implications regarding the architectureofthe socialcategorizations structure,both in verticaland horizontalfashion,as a means ofreducing prejudice and discrimination.would be discussed.