written words cut the legs out of this account. Eberhardt’s results suggest that apes are associated

written words cut the legs out of this account. Eberhardt’s results suggest that apes are associated with the socio-cultural, racial category “Black.” These findings reveal a deep seated, dehumanized representation that is readily triggered even in highly educated people. But perhaps they are less disturbing then we might imagine. not so bad if the take home message is that we are closet racists with antiquated theories of evolution or God’s design. Outside of these artificial studies, we are well educated citizens who keep our isms tucked away, locked up in our unconscious. Unfortunately, the unsettling feelings that many will have to these studies are exacerbated by an additional set of results collected by Eberhardt, linking unconscious impressions to harmful actions. Caucasian male subjects watched a video of a policeman using force to subdue a suspect who was either Black or Caucasian. When primed with an ape drawing, but not that of a tiger, subjects were more likely to say that the policeman was justified in subduing the Black suspect than the Caucasian suspect. We are more than closet racists. We are out of the closet, armed for prejudice and dehumanization. To unconsciously think that Blacks are more like apes than other racial groups is to strip them of characteristics that are uniquely human. As Haslam notes, when we dehumanize others in this particular way, we no longer see them as human, but as incompetent wild animals or immature children lacking in intelligence, etiquette, rationality, and moral wherewithal. This mode of dehumanization is ancient, reflected in the writings and paintings of European explorers who encountered indigenous cultures in Asia, Australia, and Africa. Dehumanizing others into objects is equally ancient, unflattering and dangerous. In one study, American adults were told to focus on either the physical appearance or personality of the actress Angelina Jolie and the ex-governor of Alaska and presidential hopeful Sarah Palin — both famous personalities within the United States. When subjects focused on appearance as opposed to personality, they judged both Jolie and Palin as relatively lacking in traits of experience or human nature. Jolie and Palin were seen as objects. In other studies, carried out by Haslam, subjects judged objectified men and women as less capable of suffering and less deserving of moral compassion and protection, reinforcing the age old attitude we once held toward slaves, and that many hold today toward prostitutes. When people become property, they fall outside of the circle of moral patients. Studies of the brain provide further support for these dehumanizing transformations, and highlight, once again, both the beneficial and malignant consequences of our mind’s promiscuity. Brains without borders Dehumanization enables doctors to treat their patients — human or nonhuman animal — as mechanical Hauser Chapter 3. Ravages of denial 103 HOUSE_OVERSIGHT_012849