Infra-Humanization of Ethnic Minorities: The Moderating Role of Ideology

Building on research indicating that the denial of uniquely human emotions is tantamount to infra-humanization, a study assessed whether liberal and conservative Caucasian participants would attribute uniquely human emotions differently to a Hispanic versus Caucasian target after a hurricane. Results showed that whereas participants who self-identified as liberal did not attribute uniquely human emotions differently to the two targets, those self-identifying as conservatives assigned significantly less uniquely human emotions, but an equal number of nonuniquely human emotions, to the Hispanic target. This infra-humanization was also associated with attitudes about what type of aid should be provided to the family members, although the evidence in this regard is not conclusive.