Objectification leads to depersonalization: The denial of mind and moral concern to objectified others
Abstract
Philosophers have argued that when people are objectified they are treated as if they lack the mental states and moral status associated with personhood. These aspects of objectification have been neglected by psychologists. This research investigates the role of depersonalization in objectification. In Study 1, objectified women were attributed less mind and were accorded lesser moral status than non‐objectified women. In Study 2, we replicated this effect with male and female targets and extended it to include perceptions of competence and pain attribution. Further, we explored whether target and perceiver gender qualify depersonalization. Overall, this research indicates that when people are objectified they are denied personhood. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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Objectified women are perceived to have less mind and moral status than non-objectified women.
“Objectified women are perceived to have less mind and moral status than non-objectified women (Loughnan, Haslam, Murnane, Vaes, Reynolds, & Suitner, 2010).”
From An Integrative Terror Management Theory Perspective on Media Effects: A Model and 12 Hypotheses for Research (2016) · cites this paper as Loughnan et al., 2010
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- Authors
- Loughnan, S., Haslam, N., Murnane, T., Vaes, J., Reynolds, C., & Suitner, C.
- Affiliations
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- University of Padua (IT)
- Corresponding author
- Loughnan, Steve
- Venue
- European Journal of Social Psychology
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2010-05-08
- Volume
- 40
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 709-717
- ISSN
- 0046-2772 (ISSN-L)
- 1099-0992
- OpenAlex
- W1968026168
- Cited by
- 373
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 19 · 2024: 24 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 29 · 2020: 36 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 28 · 2017: 29 · 2016: 32 · 2015: 24 · 2014: 21 · 2013: 17 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 41.62
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- European Journal of Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- Institutional Research Information System (Università degli Studi di Trento) (submittedVersion)
- Padua Research Archive (University of Padova) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion
- Keywords
- objectification, depersonalization, personhood, mind attribution, moral status, competence attribution, gender stereotypes, target gender, moral concern
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