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Cheng L, Wang X, Jetten J, Klebl C, Li Z, Wang F. Subjective economic inequality evokes interpersonal objectification. Br J Soc Psychol 2024. [PMID: 38520243 DOI: 10.1111/bjso.12740] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2023] [Revised: 03/06/2024] [Accepted: 03/11/2024] [Indexed: 03/25/2024]
Abstract
Interpersonal objectification, treating people as tools and neglecting their essential humanness, is a pervasive and enduring phenomenon. Across five studies (N = 1183), we examined whether subjective economic inequality increases objectification through a calculative mindset. Study 1 revealed that the perceptions of economic inequality at the national level and in daily life were positively associated with objectification. Studies 2 and 3 demonstrated a causal relationship between subjective economic inequality and objectification in a fictitious organization and society, respectively. Moreover, the effect was mediated by a calculative mindset (Studies 3-4). In addition, lowering a calculative mindset weakened the effect of subjective inequality on objectification (Study 4). Finally, increased objectification due to subjective inequality further decreased prosociality and enhanced exploitative intentions (Study 5). Taken together, our findings suggest that subjective economic inequality increases objectification, which further causes adverse interpersonal interactions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lei Cheng
- School of Psychology, Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou, China
| | - Xijing Wang
- College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong
| | - Jolanda Jetten
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Christoph Klebl
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
| | - Zifei Li
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
| | - Fang Wang
- Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, National Demonstration Center for Experimental Psychology Education (Beijing Normal University), Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
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Bonell S, Klebl C, Blake K, Griffiths S. How intrasexual competitiveness shapes attitudes towards cosmetic surgery recipients. Evol Hum Sci 2023; 5:e30. [PMID: 38155758 PMCID: PMC10753342 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2023.26] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/20/2023] [Revised: 10/12/2023] [Accepted: 10/19/2023] [Indexed: 12/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Cosmetic surgery is extremely popular. Despite this, negative attitudes towards cosmetic surgery recipients prevail. Across two pre-registered studies, we examined whether intrasexual competitiveness explains these negative attitudes. Participants in Study 1 were 343 (mean age = 24.74) single heterosexual American women and participants in Study 2 were 445 (mean age = 19.03) single heterosexual Australian women. Participants in both studies were primed for either low or high intrasexual competitiveness. Contrary to our predictions, we found that priming condition did not influence participants' derogation and social exclusion of cosmetic surgery recipients. We did, however, find evidence for a 'relative attractiveness' halo effect: participants engaged in less derogation and social exclusion when they assumed cosmetic surgery recipients were more attractive than themselves. This suggests that 'pretty privilege' extends not only to women who meet conventional beauty standards, but also to those who are perceived as relatively closer to meeting these standards than the individual with whom they are engaging. Overall, we concluded that intrasexual competitiveness does not encourage the stigmatisation of cosmetic surgery recipients and examined alternative explanations for this phenomenon.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sarah Bonell
- Department of Psychology, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Christoph Klebl
- School of Psychology, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
| | - Khandis Blake
- Melbourne Schoolof Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Scott Griffiths
- Melbourne Schoolof Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
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Bastian B, Crimston CR, Klebl C, van Lange PAM. The moral significance of prosstecting environmental and cultural objects. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0280393. [PMID: 36758054 PMCID: PMC9910731 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0280393] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2021] [Accepted: 12/28/2022] [Indexed: 02/10/2023] Open
Abstract
A powerful avenue through which to promote the preservation of the natural and cultural environment is to afford cultural and environmental objects moral significance. In this research, we examine a range of factors that may give rise to moral concern regarding the protection of culturel and environmental objects as ends in themselves. In this way, we also extend theorizing and evidence beyond a focus on sentience as a focal determinant of moral significance Across five studies we show that non-sentient objects can sometimes be viewed as possessing intrinsically valuable properties that afford them moral standing (independent of their extrinsic/means-end value or any perception of their capacity to think and feel). People judge it morally wrong to harm things that are beautiful, sacred, rare, or old, and this cannot be explained merely by their usefulness or economic value. Our findings provide new insight into ways to elevate the protection of natural and cultural objects to an issue of moral significance, and suggest avenues through which to motivate the preservation of a natural and cultural environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brock Bastian
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Charlie R. Crimston
- School of Psychology, Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, Queensland, Australia
| | - Christoph Klebl
- School of Psychology, Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, Queensland, Australia
| | - Paul A. M. van Lange
- Department of Experimental and Applied Psychology, Faculty of Behavioural and Movement Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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Klebl C, Rhee JJ, Greenaway KH, Luo Y, Bastian B. Physical Attractiveness Biases Judgments Pertaining to the Moral Domain of Purity. Pers Soc Psychol Bull 2023; 49:282-295. [PMID: 34964373 DOI: 10.1177/01461672211064452] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
Research on the Beauty-is-Good stereotype shows that unattractive people are perceived to have worse moral character than attractive individuals. Yet research has not explored what kinds of moral character judgments are particularly biased by attractiveness. In this work, we tested whether attractiveness particularly biases moral character judgments pertaining to the moral domain of purity, beyond a more general halo effect. Across four preregistered studies (N = 1,778), we found that unattractive (vs. attractive) individuals were judged to be more likely to engage in purity violations compared with harm violations and that this was not due to differences in perceived moral wrongness, weirdness, or sociality between purity and harm violations. The findings shed light on how physical attractiveness influences moral character attributions, suggesting that physical attractiveness particularly biases character judgments pertaining to the moral domain of purity.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | - Yin Luo
- The University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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5
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Song JY, Klebl C, Bastian B. Awe promotes moral expansiveness via the small-self. Front Psychol 2023; 14:1097627. [PMID: 36949922 PMCID: PMC10025529 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1097627] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2022] [Accepted: 01/23/2023] [Indexed: 03/08/2023] Open
Abstract
The experience of awe has been shown to challenge how people think about themselves and the world around them, linking them to something greater than themselves. We investigated whether this emotional experience of awe may also challenge the boundaries of our moral consideration, leading to a generalized expansion in our moral worlds. Across five studies (N = 990), we examined whether awe might promote moral expansiveness; that is, increased moral concern across a broad range of entities (e.g., out-groups, animals, plants, environments). Cross-sectional Studies 1a and 1b, found dispositional awe was related to greater moral expansiveness. Experimental Studies 2 and 3, using video-induced awe, found consistent indirect effects on moral expansiveness, via self-reported awe and the small-self sense of vastness. Experimental Study 4, using Virtual Reality induced awe, found those in the awe condition (vs. control) reported greater moral expansiveness, and this was fully mediated by the small-self sense of vastness. Our findings show awe expands our sense of connectedness to the broader world, and through this, increases the breath of our moral concern.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ji Young Song
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- *Correspondence: Ji Young Song, ;
| | - Christoph Klebl
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Brock Bastian
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
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Affiliation(s)
- Rhett Diessner
- Social Science Division, Department of Psychology, Lewis-Clark State College, Lewiston, Idaho, USA
| | - Christoph Klebl
- Department of Psychology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Gabe Mowry
- Social Science Division, Department of Psychology, Lewis-Clark State College, Lewiston, Idaho, USA
| | - Rico Pohling
- Division of Personality Psychology and Assessment, Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Chemnitz, Chemnitz, Germany
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Klebl C, Rhee JJ, Greenaway KH, Luo Y, Bastian B. Beauty Goes Down to the Core: Attractiveness Biases Moral Character Attributions. J Nonverbal Behav 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s10919-021-00388-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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Abstract
Researchers have tended to focus on mind perception as integral to judgments of moral standing, yet a smaller body of evidence suggests that beauty may also be an important factor (for some people and animals). Across six studies (N = 1,662), we investigated whether beauty increases moral standing attributions to a wide range of targets, including non-sentient entities, and explored the psychological mechanism through which beauty assigns moral standing to targets. We found that people attribute greater moral standing to beautiful (vs. ugly) animals (Study 1 and Study 5a, preregistered) and humans (Study 2). This effect also extended to non-sentient targets, that is, people perceive beautiful (vs. ugly) landscapes (Study 3) and buildings (Study 4 and Study 5b, preregistered) as possessing greater moral standing. Across all studies, perceptions of purity mediated the effect of beauty on moral standing, suggesting that beauty increases the moral standing individuals place on targets through evoking moral intuitions of purity.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Yin Luo
- University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
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Dakin BC, Ching AE, Teperman E, Klebl C, Moshel M, Bastian B. Prescribing vegetarian or flexitarian diets leads to sustained reduction in meat intake. Appetite 2021; 164:105285. [PMID: 33930494 DOI: 10.1016/j.appet.2021.105285] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/20/2020] [Revised: 03/03/2021] [Accepted: 04/23/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Many people agree that reducing the consumption of meat has good ends (e.g., for animal welfare, the environment, and human health). However, the question of which advocacy strategies are most effective in enabling wide-spread meat reduction remains open. We explored this by prescribing four different meat reduction diets to omnivorous participants for a seven-day adherence period, and studied their meat consumption over time. The diets included a Vegetarian diet, and three flexitarian diets (Climatarian - limit beef and lamb consumption; One Step for Animals - eliminate chicken consumption; Reducetarian - reduce all meat consumption). Results showed pronounced differences between groups in meat consumption during the adherence period, where the Vegetarian group ate significantly less meat than the flexitarian groups. All groups decreased their meat intake in the weeks following the adherence period compared to baseline, however, there were no significant group differences in the level of decrease over time. Participants also changed their attitudes toward meat and animals from pre-to post-intervention, and decreases in commitment toward and rationalization of meat-eating partially mediated change in meat intake. These findings reveal that the diet assignments had some impact on participants' meat consumption and attitudes even after the prescribed adherence period had ended. However, the sustained decrease in consumption did not vary depending on what meat reduction strategy was originally used.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brodie C Dakin
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia.
| | - Ann Ee Ching
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia
| | - Elliot Teperman
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia
| | - Christoph Klebl
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia
| | - Michoel Moshel
- Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Australia
| | - Brock Bastian
- Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne, Australia
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Abstract
Little is known about the psychology of ugliness. We propose that ugliness judgments are linked to the behavioral immune system, alerting us to objects that may contain potentially harmful diseases. Exploring this possibility, in five studies ( N = 1,552), we found that ugly human faces (Studies 1a and 1b), ugly animals (Study 2), and—to a lesser degree—ugly buildings (Study 2) elicit disgust controlling for other avoidance-motivated emotional responses. Furthermore, the presence (vs. absence) of disease cues were found to elicit ugliness judgments (Studies 3 and 4) suggesting that ugliness judgments respond to cues of pathogen presence. As such, ugliness may activate the behavioral immune system, alerting us to stimuli that pose pathogen risk.
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