When humility heals: state humility weakens the relationship between objectification and aggression

ABSTRACT

Perceiving and treating others as mere instruments, a process known as objectification, is often intertwined with aggression, as the objectified targets are devalued and stripped of their human qualities. We proposed that state humility can moderate the link between objectification and aggression. Two studies, with American and Chinese samples (total N = 419), offer convergent support to our hypothesis. In Study 1 (N = 219), participants were more aggressive by providing more pain-inducing tablets to the objectified target in the non-humility condition, relative to the humility condition. In Study 2 (N = 200), people’s objectification tendency positively predicted their aggression on the voodoo doll task; however, this association only emerged in the non-humility condition, but not in the humility condition. Our findings contribute to the literature by showcasing humility as a valuable tool in buffering the adverse effects of objectification, offering insights for promoting more respectful and harmonious interpersonal interactions in various contexts.

KEYWORDS:

• State humility
• objectification
• aggression
• dehumanization

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

data availability

The data will be made available upon request by contacting the corresponding author

Open Scholarship

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This article has earned the Center for Open Science badges for Open Data and Open Materials through Open Practices Disclosure. The data and materials are openly accessible at https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2024.2340056

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Early Researchers Start-up Foundation at South China Normal University [22SK25] and by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation [2023M741241] to J. Shi.