Infra–Humanizing Others, Supra–Humanizing Gods: The Emotional Hierarchy

Abstract

Previous research has shown that people tend to infra–humanize outgroup members by being reluctant to attribute them secondary, uniquely human, emotions (Demoulin et al., 2004; Leyens et al., 2000). In the present paper, we extend the infra–humanization theory by arguing that people, going to the opposite pole of the humanness continuum, have also the tendency to supra–humanize some supernatural entities. Two exploratory studies focusing at the explicit perceptions of God and the self give support to these assumptions. The several consequences of gods' supra–humanization for social cognition are discussed.