Humanness Is Not Always Positive: Automatic Associations between Incivilities and Human Symbols

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Cognitive Science
• Behavioral Science

Background:

• Uncivil behavior challenges social norms regarding public property and community respect.
• The subtle nature of incivilities can lead to their perception as inherently human actions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the automatic associations between humanness and both civic and uncivil behaviors.
• To understand how people conceptualize humanness in relation to social conduct.

Main Methods:

• Three studies were conducted to examine these associations.
• Methods included comparing associations with human versus animal pictures and words.
• Replication with behaviors not visually depicting humans was also performed.

Main Results:

• Uncivil behaviors showed stronger associations with human imagery compared to animal imagery (Study 1).
• Human-related words were more strongly linked to uncivil behaviors than animal-related words (Study 2).
• These associations were confirmed even when stimuli did not graphically represent humans (Study 3).

Conclusions:

• Both civic and uncivil behaviors are strongly associated with human concepts.
• Findings impact the understanding of humanness and its potential denial in social contexts.