Although much attention has been paid to the consequences of objectification, relatively little research has focused on the question of why women are objectified. From a terror management theory perspective, the association of women with (literal) objects strips them of the qualities that are threatening (on account of mortality concerns). Sexualization, however, underscores women’s animal nature, and this association is problematic in the management of existential anxiety. The current research builds on a distinction between sexual and appearance-focused objectification to identify the existential mechanisms in the motivation to dehumanize, and subsequently harm, women. Consistent with the hypothesis, participants primed with mortality salience (MS) reported increased mechanistic dehumanization of a female target conforming to the operationalization of appearance-focused objectification, compared to those not primed with MS. Contrary to the hypothesis, MS did not increase animalistic dehumanization of a sexually objectified female target (Study 1). In Study 2, participants believed they were interacting with another person online; MS was expected to increase aggression when the partner was sexualized, and decrease aggression when she was depicted with a focus on appearance. The results did not support this hypothesis; none of the manipulations impacted aggression towards the partner. Ancillary analyses revealed that participants primed with MS attributed fewer human nature traits to the partner in the appearance-focused objectification condition (i.e., they mechanistically dehumanized her), compared to those not primed with MS, thus mirroring the effect found in Study 1. This research provides further insight into the division between sexual and appearance-focused objectification, and is suggestive of a possible existential mechanism in these processes.

From April-July 1994, over 800,000 people were killed in a genocide in Rwanda. Since 2004, over 450,000 people have been killed in a genocide in Darfur, Sudan. In both instances, physical and sexual dehumanization were used against the targeted groups. While dehumanization in genocide has been studied, most literature on dehumanization looks at it from a psychological viewpoint, and does not include the socio-economic factors that can lead to a population being dehumanized and targeted for genocide. In addition, research on the different types of dehumanization, especially sexual dehumanization, is needed in order to fully understand the role that dehumanization plays in encouraging and facilitating genocide. The purpose of this dissertation was to compare how dehumanization was/is used in the genocides in Rwanda and Darfur. Thus, in this study, I analyzed the literature on Rwanda and Darfur and explain how dehumanization was spread from the top down by both governments, the role structural violence played in the genocides, and the types of dehumanization, both physical and sexual, used in each genocide. This dissertation is a qualitative study that used case study methodology in order to review the existing literature on Rwanda and Darfur, as well as the literature on dehumanization. I argued that rape in Rwanda and Sudan was an act of genocide, done to inflict severe physical and mental harm upon the groups, as well as a measure intended to prevent births within the targeted group. I concluded with some policy recommendations, including mental health care for the survivors, steps to recognize and stop the spread of dehumanization of a targeted group, and the need to rehumanize not only the victims, but also the perpetrators, in order to build a lasting peace.

Thesis advisor: Andrea Heberlein / Dehumanization of outgroup members in situations of intergroup competition has been widely reported (Haslam, 2006), but the effects of individual competition on dehumanization have not yet been extensively explored. A previous study in our lab examined this effect and found an unexpected gender difference, with women showing greater implicit dehumanization than men. The present study aimed to explore a possible mechanism for that gender difference: gendered expectations of maintaining positive interpersonal relations, and subsequent discomfort in competitive situations, may motivate the implicit dehumanization of competitors. Participants interacted briefly with a confederate and were then given instructions for a competitive or non-competitive game. Participants then completed two Single-Category Implicit Association Tests measuring dehumanization of their game partner. Participants also completed the Mind Perception Questionnaire, which measures explicit dehumanization of participants’ game partners. We predicted that in the Competition condition, female participants would implicitly dehumanize their game partners more than men would. / Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Departmental Honors. / Discipline: Psychology.

This dissertation examines the idea of a “phenomenology of the cultural Other” in its two sides: the phenomenological and cultural sides. To address the phenomenological side, this dissertation critically examines phenomenologies of the Other in Hegel, Husserl, Heidegger, Sartre, and Merleau-Ponty, along with their prominent commentators. This group of philosophers has produced works that constitute a category of philosophical literature that may be referred to as a “phenomenology of the Other." To address the second, cultural side, a cultural aspect is added to the phenomenology of the Other. To cover the two sides of the question on the phenomenological appearances of the cultural Other, my study of will have three phases, that are presented in three chapters. In each chapter, I will look at the specific type of relations that are discussed in the phenomenologies of the Other within the philosophical traditions I mentioned above, and accordingly, I will describe a cultural phenomenon which reflects the attitude of the self toward the Other. In chapter one, the Other appears as the negation of the self and vice versa. In chapter two, the Other appears as the opposite pair of the self, and, in the final chapter, the Other appears as the co-existing pair of the self. For these three phenomenological appearances of the Other, I will suggest three considerations of the cultural Other respectively: the dehumanized Other, the Orientalized Other, and the cosmopolitan Other.

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Why do some soldiers racialize, and eventually dehumanize, both enemy combatants and non-combatant civilians during military conflicts? This project will trace the ways in which soldiers’ experiences in combat and the resultant trauma may lead to the development of racialized threat perceptions. Racialized threat perceptions are a belief system that teaches soldiers to view all members (combatants, noncombatants, and civilians) of a specific race as “the enemy” regardless their role in combat. This racialized threat perception leads to indiscriminate violence against all individuals in the militarized jurisdiction, including women, children, and the elderly, resulting in atrocities. Racism, racially motivated violence, and violent extremism all have a complex web of origins and drivers that this paper does not have the space to fully explore. Racism against the Asian American Pacific Islander community in the United States can point to institutionalized roots in the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 or explicitly racist propaganda during the Second World War or individual prejudices that appear to manifest ex nihil. The goal of this paper, however, is to analyze an understudied source of racism and racially motivated violence in the United States: counterinsurgency warfare. By conducting process tracing through 100 years of U.S. military expeditions abroad, this paper will demonstrate an additional generative source of racism and violence that continues to shape our world. I present a novel theory that explains how combat generates racialized threat perceptions in the mind of a soldier, how those racialized threat perceptions erode the ethics of the soldier and eventually return home with him. These three mechanisms include: call to civilize, psychological insecurity, and inability to discriminate between friend and foe. I specifically look at three case studies to understand the mechanisms behind a racialized threat perception over the past century: the War in the Philippines, the Vietnam War, and the Forever Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The paper concludes by demonstrating how this racialized threat perception generated during combat “comes home” with soldiers and impacts American society after the war has ended.

<p>Past theory and research have documented several stereotypes that explain why biases against Asian Americans (AAs) in U.S. organizations can occur, such as the Model Minority Stereotype (MMS) and Perpetual Foreigner Syndrome (PFS). The current project expands on past work by proposing a new perspective of stereotypes driving (mis)treatment of AAs: Mechanistic dehumanization. Specifically, I argue that AAs are seen as more robot-like compared to other racial groups in the U.S., which may explain some of the negative workplace treatments they face. To test this phenomenon, I conducted a set of five pre-registered studies to examine the extent to which AAs tend to be more mechanistically dehumanized than other racial groups in the U.S., and its workplace implications. In a pilot study (N = 1,003), the results revealed that East, South, and Southeast AAs tended to be mechanistically dehumanized and internalized this dehumanization more than other groups. In Study 1 (Study 1a, N= 255; Study 1b, N = 427), a survey and experimental study provided support that AA coworkers are more mechanistically dehumanized than White American coworkers, and this mediated the relationship between coworker race and negative work outcomes (e.g., less perceived leadership potential, more exploitative treatment, and less workplace friendship). In another survey study, Study 2 (N = 473) found that mechanistic dehumanization exhibited incremental validity in predicting negative work outcomes for AAs, above and beyond MMS and PFS. Finally, in Study 3 (N = 477), an all-Asian sample found that AAs’ internalization of mechanistic dehumanization predicted more negative work outcomes (e.g., increased burnout, less workplace friendship), above and beyond MMS and PFS. Altogether, the current work supports a mechanistic dehumanization account of bias against AAs, reveals racial subgroup differences, and provides a novel explanation for why AAs experience certain workplace inequities. </p>

The purpose of this research paper is to examine how Syrian refugees are visually represented in two of the largest newspapers in Sweden: Dagens Nyheter (Today’s news) and Svenska Dagbladet (The Swedish daily paper). Their choice of images on the Syrian refugee crisis will be analysed, to see what sort of message they send by using those specific images. The reason for this study is because previous studies have implied that the media has an important role in crafting national perceptions of refugees. Therefore, it is intriguing to analyse the images the newspapers published during the fall of 2015 to see how Syrian refugees were represented during that most active and chaotic period in Sweden and if the visual representation of Syrian refugees can influence cultures of hostility in Sweden. The study has been linked with previous studies research of visual representations of refugees (us and them, identifiable victim effect) and the severe consequences it can lead to (dehumanization, moral panic) if used improperly, and three main theories that will be the foundation to custom and analyse the images (agenda setting, framing and representation theory). These were all applied and used when operating the method (quantitative content analysis) to collect information and data and also later when analysing and discussing the results. The result of the study showed that the newspapers images did not only focus on negative aspects of events and stories surrounding Syrian refugees. Dagens Nyheter and Svenska Dagbladet did not publish many negative images, but after the results, it is discovered that they are following that specific path on some aspects and that can be the start of a pattern that will be used more often in the future. While it is established that hostile and unwelcoming attitudes in the West have risen, the question remains how far its been developed in Sweden and how long it will be until the Swedish media promotes it as well. Key words: Syrian Refugee Crisis, Visual representation, Framing, Agenda setting and Stereotypes