No Evidence of Infrahumanization or Trait-Based Dehumanization in Children's Evaluation of Gender Nonconforming Peers

A recent study (Hui & Kung, 2025), using a visual scale and a mind perception task, has found that children aged 9-12 years blatantly and subtly dehumanize gender nonconforming (GN) peers. While this recent study has provided some novel insights into children's evaluation of GN peers, it remains unknown whether the observed effects can be generalized to other forms of dehumanization. In the broader dehumanization literature, some studies have reported that different dehumanization processes co-occur, but other studies have reported inconsistent findings across measures and forms of dehumanization. Extending Hui and Kung (2025), the present study examined two additional forms of dehumanization (infrahumanization and trait-based dehumanization) in 235 children aged 9-12 years. Using emotion and trait attribution tasks, children rated hypothetical gender conforming (GC) peers and GN peers on primary (or non-uniquely human) and secondary (or uniquely human) emotions as well as uniquely human (UH) and human nature (HN) traits. Children's ratings were analyzed using mixed-design ANOVAs, with participant gender (boy, girl) and age group (9-10 y, 11-12 y) as between-subjects factors, and peer gender (boy, girl), peer gender conformity (GC, GN), and emotion/trait type (primary, secondary; UH, HN) as within-subjects factors. Results indicated that children did not differentially attribute secondary emotions or UH/HN traits to GC and GN peers. Contributing new developmental evidence based on a peer gender nonconformity paradigm, the present study augments the growing research literature suggesting that different forms of dehumanization are distinct processes that may not necessarily co-occur. The present study also concurs with recent critiques highlighting that some previously reported effects of infrahumanization and trait-based dehumanization may have been products of methodological artifacts confounding humanness with prosociality and valence in the trait stimuli employed.