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Individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities: Do educators assign them a fully human status?
Author(s) -
Capozza Dora,
Di Bernardo Gian Antonio,
Falvo Rossella,
Vianello Renzo,
Calò Luca
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of applied social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.822
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1559-1816
pISSN - 0021-9029
DOI - 10.1111/jasp.12377
Subject(s) - dehumanization , humanity , attribution , psychology , social psychology , perception , trait , developmental psychology , sociology , philosophy , theology , neuroscience , anthropology , computer science , programming language
The present research investigates the humanity attributions to individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). In three studies, professional educators, who worked in day‐care or community centers, were examined. Humanity attributions were assessed using emotion‐based and trait‐based measures. As expected, individuals with IDD were denied a fully human status: they were perceived as having more non‐uniquely than uniquely human attributes. Furthermore, a lower human status was assigned to individuals with IDD in relation to educators. We also discovered that humanity attributions, but not attitudes, were related to approach/avoidance responses. Altogether, findings show the importance of considering humanity perceptions in the study of social relationships of individuals with IDD. Dehumanizing perceptions can explain the differential treatment these individuals face in various social settings.