To Be or Not To Be (Human): The Neuroscience of Dehumanization

Nov 7, 20243 min read

By Sorana Bucseneanu

Trigger Warning:

In 2022, employees of a restaurant in Bucharest, Romania, sparked controversy as several women called them out for giving grades to women walking past the pizza place (1). Later that year, Romanian YouTuber George Buhnici urged women to go to the gym before going to the beach in a viral post, saying he wants to see “boobs and butts” (2). These are just two examples of many instances of women being objectified both in the media and physically in public. Advertisements often use sexual images of women to promote various products. These harmful behaviors exist on a spectrum and range from seemingly inoffensive sexist jokes and remarks to abuse, rape, and even murder. These gender-based discriminatory actions, though often justified by the authors as simple jokes, are actually meant to reduce the complexity and agency of women to their physical appearance or sexual function, in the case of sexual objectification. Since autonomy and agency are typically attributed to other people, researchers have long argued that it is their abilities that makes people “unique in their power to shape their life circumstances” (3). This culturally condoned objectification of women is a leading driver of gender oppression and systemic sexism, with gender-based violence resulting from it being considered a worldwide health epidemic (4). Importantly, objectification represents a form of dehumanization, whereby an individual’s mind is affected (5).

Therefore, a question arises - why are women (among other groups of people) so often perceived as objects rather than complex human beings? A growing body of research highlights that certain social groups tend to be regarded as less human, a phenomenon called “dehumanization.” As this has important personal consequences for the victims and societal implications, it is important to understand the biological mechanisms of dehumanization to better comprehend the phenomenon and design appropriate, evidence-based interventions for prejudice reduction.

Given the growing incidence of group membership-based discrimination, researchers have been dedicating a lot of attention to the study of how and when we attribute humanity to others. In 2000, Leyens coined the term “infrahumanization,” which refers to the tendency to attribute fewer uniquely human emotions (i.e., pride, regret, hope) to outgroup members (6). Although this process is often unconscious, the outgroup is generally perceived as less “human” than the ingroup.

One crucial brain area that has been associated with dehumanized perception is the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). This region is located within the frontal lobe and is primarily responsible for decision-making and judgment processes (7), attention (8), as well as learning and memory consolidation (9), and social perception (10). For example, one study required participants to look at pictures of positive (i.e., rich people, ingroup heroes) vs. negative (i.e., homeless people, drug addicts) photos of people. Results indicate that there is increased activation in one area of the mPFC in response to positive compared to negative images (11).

More recent research, which uses neuroimaging approaches to uncover the neural mechanisms of dehumanization, has highlighted the crucial role played by the mPFC in sexual objectification. According to the Ambivalent Sexism Theory proposed by Glick and Fiske (1996), sexism has two dimensions: 1. Benevolent sexism, which refers to the idea that women have a subordinate, nurturing role in society and need to be protected, and 2. Hostile sexism, maintaining the idea that women aim to control men to seek status (12). Based on this, researchers have hypothesized that individuals with hostile sexist attitudes would experience less activation in brain areas associated with social cognition and mentalizing, which are necessary for agency attribution. One study involving twenty-two male students tested this idea. Participants were shown twenty images for each stimulus class: sexualized women, sexualized men, fully-clothed men, and fully-clothed women whilst being scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), after completing a questionnaire measuring the extent of their sexist attitudes (13). Results indicate decreased activation in the medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate, and bilateral temporal poles when participants were looking at images of sexualized women. This suggests that men holding hostile sexist attitudes were more likely to fail to attribute mental states to sexualized women.

In conclusion, the persistent objectification and dehumanization of women stem from both societal norms and neurological mechanisms. Addressing this issue requires a multifaceted approach, including raising awareness, changing cultural narratives, and implementing evidence-based interventions. By recognizing and combating these ingrained biases, society can move towards greater gender equality and respect for all individuals.

References

GIRL UP NEUROSCIENCE

To Be or Not To Be (Human): The Neuroscience of Dehumanization

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