Abstract
Nonhuman animals are typically excluded from the scope of social psychology. This article presents animals as social objects - targets of human social responses - overviewing the similarities and differences with human targets. The focus here is on perceiving animal species as social groups. Reflecting the two fundamental dimensions of humans' social cognition - perceived warmth (benign or ill intent) and competence (high or low ability), proposed within the Stereotype Content Model (Fiske, Cuddy, Glick, & Xu, 2002) - animal stereotypes are identified, together with associated prejudices and behavioral tendencies. In line with human intergroup threats, both realistic and symbolic threats associated with animals are reviewed. As a whole, animals appear to be social perception targets within the human sphere of influence and a valid topic for research.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 206-217 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | European Psychologist |
Volume | 21 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 2016 |
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)
- General Psychology
Keywords
- Animals
- Competence
- Prejudice
- Social cognition
- Social groups
- Stereotypes
- Warmth