Dehumanization and perceptions of immoral intergroup behavior

This work investigated the extent to which adults dehumanize racists and the correlates of this dehumanization. Three main findings emerged: (a) Adults perceived racists as less than fully human. (b) The extent to which adults dehumanized racists predicted the degree to which they reported that ambiguous behaviors performed by strangers reflected racial bias. (c) This association did not emerge when participants evaluated behaviors performed by their friends, suggesting that views of "racists" in general may not be linked with evaluations of behaviors performed by friends