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Internalizing objectification: Objectified individuals see themselves as less warm, competent, moral, and human
Steve Loughnan1, Cristina Baldissarri2, Federica Spaccatini3
1Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, UK.
The British Journal of Social Psychology
|February 16, 2017
Summary
People who are objectified internalize these negative views, seeing themselves as less warm, competent, moral, and human. This self-perception holds true regardless of who is doing the objectifying or the context.
Area of Science:
- Social Psychology
- Objectification Studies
Background:
- Objectification involves viewing individuals as lacking warmth, competence, morality, and humanity.
- Previous research has established that people objectify others.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether individuals who are objectified internalize this perception of themselves.
- To examine the self-perception of individuals subjected to sexual and workplace objectification.
Main Methods:
- Study 1 involved 114 participants examining sexual objectification.
- Study 2 involved 62 participants examining workplace objectification.
- Effects were analyzed considering perceiver gender, familiarity, and the source of objectification (person vs. situation).
Main Results:
- Objectification led participants to perceive themselves as less warm, competent, and human.
- Participants also reported lacking human uniqueness.
- Study 2 indicated objectification led to viewing oneself as less moral.
- These findings were consistent across different objectification contexts and perceiver characteristics.
Conclusions:
- Individuals subjected to objectification internalize these dehumanizing views.
- The objectified perceive themselves as lacking essential human qualities like warmth, competence, morality, and humanity.
- Self-objectification mirrors the objectifier's perception, highlighting the impact of external objectification on self-view.
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