<p>Has ordering people along a Ape to Human diagram, as a measure of dehumanization for people in general, been validated in any way?</p>
<p>Because it seems, if confronted with such a diagram and asking people where to place a specific person, or group of people...</p>
<p><strong>It seems rife with the possibility of jokey answers, or only those thoroughly convinced in their belief of there being humans of unequal worth, such that it'd be more a test for whether someone is an unashamed racist or anti-vegan or some such, instead of a test about whether there's implicit dehumanization, like there are tests of implicit bias.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Is there any proof that the tests can screen out joke answers and are applicable to people who are not unashamed discriminators?</strong></p>
<p>I don't have any access to journal subscriptions, so I wouldn't know where to go to check if there's been any proof that it successfully tests for deliberately hidden / repressed / implicit dehumanization.</p>
<hr />
<p>Places where such a test has been described as being used, as reported by <a href="https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/qv78zb/drivers-think-bikers-are-less-than-human-survey-says" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Vice</a>.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Researchers have now found an explanation for why many drivers act out toward cyclists: They are actually dehumanizing people who ride bikes, according to an April study by Australian researchers in the journal <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1369847818308593#!" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Transportation Research</a>.</p>
<p>[...]</p>
<p>The researchers asked 442 Australians, including those who identified as cyclists, to rank the average cyclist on a scale from ape to human. This ape-to-human diagram has been used in other studies, like this <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26121523" rel="nofollow noreferrer">one from 2015</a>, looking at the dehumanization of marginalized groups, such as Muslims and black people.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr />
<p>The <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1369847818308593#!" rel="nofollow noreferrer">April 2019 article</a> says, in its abstract:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This paper presents a pilot study applying two validated dehumanization measures to a road user group for the first time.</p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-03T16:34:03.837Z
Did you read the study in Transportation Research that you linked (or even just the abstract)? It seems to me like that study is exactly the validation you are asking for, so I'm not sure at all what your remaining question is.
Bryan Krause
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-05-03T20:05:00.370Z
@Bryan_Krause - I read the abstract again, and it seems it's not saying anything about the diagram's use being validated, other than it having been validated, before, which seems... circular, no pun intended. ... I'll check out that 2015 link I had... Whose abstract seems to be, "There are people who really do see other people as less than human."
Malady
<psychology>
Has ordering people along a Ape to Human diagram, as a measure of dehumanization for people in general, been validated in any way?
Malady
# Has ordering people along a Ape to Human diagram, as a measure of dehumanization for people in general, been validated in any way?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-04-24)

Has ordering people along a Ape to Human diagram, as a measure of dehumanization for people in general, been validated in any way?

Because it seems, if confronted with such a diagram and asking people where to place a specific person, or group of people...

**It seems rife with the possibility of jokey answers, or only those thoroughly convinced in their belief of there being humans of unequal worth, such that it'd be more a test for whether someone is an unashamed racist or anti-vegan or some such, instead of a test about whether there's implicit dehumanization, like there are tests of implicit bias.**

**Is there any proof that the tests can screen out joke answers and are applicable to people who are not unashamed discriminators?**

I don't have any access to journal subscriptions, so I wouldn't know where to go to check if there's been any proof that it successfully tests for deliberately hidden / repressed / implicit dehumanization.

---

Places where such a test has been described as being used, as reported by [Vice](https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/qv78zb/drivers-think-bikers-are-less-than-human-survey-says).

> Researchers have now found an explanation for why many drivers act out toward cyclists: They are actually dehumanizing people who ride bikes, according to an April study by Australian researchers in the journal [Transportation Research](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1369847818308593#!).
>
> [...]
>
> The researchers asked 442 Australians, including those who identified as cyclists, to rank the average cyclist on a scale from ape to human. This ape-to-human diagram has been used in other studies, like this [one from 2015](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26121523), looking at the dehumanization of marginalized groups, such as Muslims and black people.

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The [April 2019 article](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1369847818308593#!) says, in its abstract:

> This paper presents a pilot study applying two validated dehumanization measures to a road user group for the first time.

**Tags:** psychology

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Did you read the study in Transportation Research that you linked (or even just the abstract)? It seems to me like that study is exactly the validation you are asking for, so I'm not sure at all what your remaining question is.  
> **username_0**: @Bryan_Krause - I read the abstract again, and it seems it's not saying anything about the diagram's use being validated, other than it having been validated, before, which seems... circular, no pun intended. ... I'll check out that 2015 link I had... Whose abstract seems to be, "There are people who really do see other people as less than human."  

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## 0 answers

