Determined Yet Dehumanized: People Higher in Self-Control Are Seen as More Robotic. Issue 2 (March 2023)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Lapka, Samantha P.; Kung, Franki Y. H.; Brienza, Justin P.; Scholer, Abigail A.
• Is Part Of: Social psychological & personality science. Volume 14:Issue 2(2023)
• Page Start: 117
• Page End: 129
• Publication Date: 2023-03
• Subjects: self-control -- dehumanization -- social perception -- interpersonal consequences; Personality -- Periodicals; Social psychology -- Periodicals; Electronic journals; 155.2
• DOI: 10.1177/19485506221093109
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1948-5506

Abstract

Desire is part of human nature, and being vulnerable to desire is part of what differentiates humans from machines. However, individuals with high self-control—who demonstrate impressive resistance to their desires—may appear to lack such human vulnerability. We propose that people perceived as high in self-control tend to be dehumanized as more robotic, relating to potentially negative social consequences. Across six studies ( N = 2, 007), people perceived those higher in self-control as more robotic. In addition, we found some evidence that this robotic-dehumanization was related to less interest in spending time with the high self-control person. This outcome was reliably linked to lower warmth perceptions that correlated with greater robotic-dehumanization. Together, our results offer new insights into the social dynamics of exhibiting high self-control.