Losing Our Humanity The Self-Dehumanizing Consequences of Social Ostracism

• Published in: Personality & social psychology bulletin Vol. 39; no. 2; pp. 156 - 169
• Main Authors: Bastian, Brock, Jetten, Jolanda, Chen, Hannah, Radke, Helena R. M., Harding, Jessica F., Fasoli, Fabio
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01-02-2013; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: Adolescent; Behavior; Behavioral psychology; Dehumanization; Emotions; Female; Humanism; Humanities; Humans; Interpersonal Relations; Male; Morality; Morals; Ostracism; Perceptions; Perpetrators; Personal relationships; Prosocial behavior; Prosocial behaviour; Self; Self Concept; Self esteem; Social Behavior; Social interaction; Social Isolation - psychology; Social Perception; Social psychology; Social rejection; Young Adult; prosocial behavior; self-perception; dehumanization; moral disengagement; social ostracism
• ISSN: 0146-1672; 1552-7433
• DOI: 10.1177/0146167212471205

People not only dehumanize others, they also dehumanize the self in response to their own harmful behavior. We examine this self-dehumanization effect across four studies. Studies 1 and 2 show that when participants are perpetrators of social ostracism, they view themselves as less human compared with when they engage in nonaversive interpersonal interactions. Perceived immorality of their behavior mediated this effect. Studies 3 and 4 highlight the behavioral consequences of self-dehumanization. The extent to which participants saw themselves as less human after perpetrating social ostracism predicted subsequent prosocial behavior. Studies 2 to 4 also demonstrate that consequences of self-dehumanization occur independently of any effects of self-esteem or mood. The findings are discussed in relation to previous work on dehumanization and self-perception. We conclude that in the context of immoral actions (self) dehumanization may be functional.