A Physiological Basis For Infra-humanization: The Link Between Skin Conductance and Empathy
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Authors
Rapp, Beau C.
Issue Date
2005
Type
Thesis
Language
en_US
Keywords
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Abstract
The proposed study investigates the relationship between one facet of implicit form of
racism known as infra-humanization (Leyens, 2000) and the physiological measurement
of galvanic skin conductance (GSR), which is electrical activity in the skin that is related
to the sympathetic nervous system. Infra-humanization is the process by which one
unconsciously renders members of an out-group as less than human by denying them the
capacity of experiencing uniquely human emotions. Further research has shown that
members of an in-group who are reminded of past atrocities committed against an outgroup
1 tend to infra-humanize the out-group more to avoid guilty feelings. Because GSR
is a good measurement of sympathetic nervous system activity it can be used to measure
emotional response. It is predicted that infra-humanization as produced by reminders of
past atrocities against an out-group will produce lower, or not significantly different from
the baseline, GSR measurements thus showing a correlation between physiological
response and infra-humanization as caused by guilt.
Description
35 p.
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