Sense of interpersonal security and preference for harsh actions against others: The role of dehumanization

•Feelings of interpersonal security reduced dehumanization.•Dehumanization mediated the effect of interpersonal security on preference for harsh actions.•We compared our findings with those from Waytz and Epley's (2012) studies.•We discussed the significance of these findings.

Three experiments examined the effects of interpersonal security, defined as a sense of being loved, protected, or cared for through social interactions, on individuals' inclination to dehumanize other people and their preference for harsh actions that might bring pain and suffering to others. In Experiment 1, participants who were primed with interpersonal security, compared to those in the control condition, were less prone to dehumanize a woman who had withdrawn illegal money from a malfunctioning ATM, which in turn predicted their preference for a less severe punishment for her. In Experiments 2 and 3, participants who were instructed to recall a social situation in which they felt loved and protected were less likely to support a harsh policy of forced migration of certain individuals than those who were primed with a neutral scene, through a reduction in participants' levels of dehumanization. Moreover, in Experiment 3, we directly compared our manipulation of interpersonal security with Waytz and Epley's (2012) procedure to manipulate social connection and found that only when the nurturance-related aspects of social connection were highlighted were participants less prone to dehumanize others.