Dehumanization’s Unique Impact on Support for Intergroup Violence: A Meta-Analytic, Cross-Cultural, and Experimental Investigation

Abstract: To eliminate violent intergroup conflict, we must understand the psychological motives that drive it. Dehumanization, the explicit and blatant denial of an outgroup's humanity, may be one such driver. However, the dehumanization of an outgroup is often intertwined with intense negative affect toward them, raising concerns that “dehumanization” instead simply reflects extreme dislike. Here, we investigate whether dehumanization is reducible to intense negative sentiment, or if it offers unique leverage in explaining support for extreme intergroup violence. Across four violent intergroup conflicts, we’ve found dehumanization to robustly predict support for extreme violence—including Ukrainians’ and Russians’ support for committing war crimes against another, and Israelis’ and Palestinians’ support for outright genocide. Having established dehumanization’s unique impact on extreme violence, we aim to mitigate support for such violence by targeting dehumanizing attitudes. Collectively, this work is positioned to advance our understanding of violent intergroup conflict and inform efforts to ameliorate it.

Keywords: Intergroup violence, dehumanization, prejudice, war, genocide