Are we dehumanizing people who are part of our out-groups today?
How do we ctrl-z this behavior?
And, will I be able to make this video light and fun as opposed to dark and depressing?
Theme song time.
You're going to put it in in post, right?
You won't have me looking goofy out here, right?
I don't think he's going to put it in post.
We are the most evolved life forms on Earth but we still cling onto our evolutionary history.
Humans are tribal creatures, we roll with cliques that are like us and we consider people
that aren’t within our tribes as an “other.”
Those tribal lines, through our evolutionary history, have transformed from hominids being
like “yo who’s cavemans is this?” when you’re out here cavewildin’ to newer lines;
race, religion, politics, Hogwarts houses, et cetera.
Think about sports fans; they root for their team no matter what, that’s their team,
people who root for that team are their “in group.”
Anyone not a fan of that team of that is their “out-group.”
We all contain multiple in-groups and, in turn, multiple out-groups, #Intersectionality!
And this is natural; implicit association tests, or IATs, show that more often than
not, people align closely with their ingroups over their out groups.
We tend to view our in-groups more favorably, talking about why our music bangs more and
how our potato salad is better.
We cooperate better with members of our in group and often root for them no matter what.
A 2005 study showed that sports fans at a soccer game would be more likely to help
an injured spectator if they were wearing the same jersey as them rather than a rival team.
This makes me think of how this could relate to other two-sided issues.
We’re so tied to our in-groups so any “group switching" looks like a betrayal.
But for the out-group...think about how aliens are treated in movies.
Always viewed as interlopers, invaders, infringing upon our way of life in a threatening way.
We act the same way to non-aliens in our human out-groups, though we don’t try to
laser them to death.
We typically view our out-group as homogenous, all the same because it’s easier.
All Warriors fans are like ____, all Muslims are like ________, all Slytherins are like ____.
This phenomena not only occurs super quickly, unconsciously, and automatically with our
amygdala and insula, but research suggests it starts very early in our cognitive development.
Furthermore, pictures of homeless people and drug abusers have been shown to activate the
insula, which also activates in response to disgusting tastes and smells but some researchers
believe that it also can be linked to an “ethnic” or out-group marker.
Yikes. That's no bueno.
Humans tend to dehumanize anyone who doesn’t adhere to what their idea of normalcy is.
Calling people animals, demons, superpredators, devils, etc is a way to denote that
someone is awful to the point of being non-human.
And this is more pervasive often and seen more often than we like to admit.
A psychologist named Dr Nour Kteily found a way to quantify dehumanization by showing mostly
Caucasian-American subjects a photo of the “Ascent of Man”
*bing, this one, right here,
and asked them to rate different ethnic groups on “how evolved they are.”
And a lot of people said every group was 100% evolved, but unfortunately, some people viewed
Mexican immigrants, Arabs, and Muslims as the least evolved.
This is scary because...they are human, and if people are looking at them as less than
human, well, it’s easier to ignore their humanity.
With another politically divisive era upon us where lines are drawn in the sand
and debasing and damaging rhetoric will be tossed left and right, how do we break this
trend of dehumanization?
Easier said than done but research suggests Individuation, Education, and
Stopping the Spread of Misinformation. Or, I.E.S.M.
That sounds slavey, I'm not saying that.
Looking at our out-groups as monolithic, generalized, disgusting people is not the move
and it can be reversed.
Studies suggest that looking at out-group members as individuals allows us to see them
as solo people and not just part of an “other” group, helping break the cycle.
Not blaming a whole group for single incidents and using blanket statements like “the Blacks,”
“the Muslims,” “the immigrants,” helps reinstate humanity in those people.
Taking the step to learn about other cultures, religions, races, etc isn’t hard; find and
celebrate difference while sharing common ground.
And finally, stop the spread of misinformation. No more fake news.
Dr. Kteily found evidence that his White subjects wouldn’t dehumanize Arabs and Muslims if
they read an article about how Muslim actually admired American values; positive, truthful
representation matters and can help with social perceptions of different groups as well as
push us along on our social cognitive evolution.
Turn us from Squirtles into Wartortles real quick.
Blastoise.
Let's lighten this bad boy up. If you learned something today and you want to learn something else,
check out this video about schadenfreude, a hard word to say that I had to say a lot of times.
And while you're here make sure you subscribe. Thank you so much for watching.