Müller, Hanjo (2024) Connected With an Inherently Human Whole? The relationship between awe, dehumanization, and ego dissolution. Bachelor thesis, Psychology.
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Abstract
Dehumanization of social outgroups has traditionally been a topic of socio-political concern, given its variety of consequences ranging from a lack of help to blatant harm and violence. Whereas several contact-based interventions have been proposed before, the current study isolates the experience of awe as potentially reducing dehumanization. With 263 undergraduate students, a model was tested in which awe reduces the subtle dehumanization of homeless alcoholics. An increased sense of ego dissolution was positioned as a partial mediator of the inverse causal relationship. Participants watched brief movie clips that induced awe, general positive affect, or neutral affect. Neither the main effect nor the mediation model are supported by the data. Findings are tentatively discussed in light of the hypothesis that awe reduces blatant, but not subtle dehumanization. Exploratory analyses further imply that particular social and moral emotions may reduce dehumanization. A theoretical framework is then outlined which suggests how future work can extend the current research in order to specify the existence, form, and mechanisms of a causal effect of awe, and other emotions, on dehumanization.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Bachelor) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Ostafin, B.D. and Daniels, J.K. |
| Degree programme: | Psychology |
| Differentiation route: | None [Bachelor Psychology] |
| Date Deposited: | 23 Jul 2024 11:55 |
| Last Modified: | 23 Jul 2024 11:55 |
| URI: | http://gmwpublic.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/4038 |
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