Deliberating on Social Targets' Goal Instrumentality Leads to Dehumanization: An Experimental Investigation

The current study examined whether deliberating on social targets' instrumentality for attaining one's own personal goals led to dehumanization of these targets. Participants evaluated the instrumentality of social targets and then rated them on high/low human nature and uniquely human traits. Findings from the experiment indicated that participants attributed less humanness to social targets whose functions in facilitating goal attainment were highlighted. Moreover, although relationship closeness was associated with the extent to which participants assigned positive attributes to the social targets, closeness did not predict dehumanization, nor did it moderate the effect of instrumental considerations on dehumanization. Conceptual and applied implications of these findings were discussed.