The missing link: Ingroup, outgroup and the human species

Individuals tend to associate uniquely human features, for example the fact of feeling secondary emotions, more to ingroup than to outgroup. However, little evidence exists for a direct link between the concept of humankind and ingroup. In Study 1, participants were presented with pictures of humans and apes. Pictures were preceded by a supraliminal prime: names typical of ingroup versus outgroup. In Study 2, participants had to decide whether a string of letters represented a person name; names were typical of ingroup versus outgroup and preceded by a subliminal presentation of a human or monkey face. In both studies, faster latencies for human/ingroup than human/outgroup associations were found. An evaluative task confirmed no difference in valence between the human and animal face. Conclusions underline the importance of considering also the animal dimension in studying social cognition, and propose future avenues to identify variables shifting outgroup perception from infra- to dehumanization.