Nicole Borowiec ’23
Dehumanization in Sports: How Athletes are Perceived When Described as Machine-Like
Nicole Borowiec ’23 Grad, Psychology and Sociology major
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Saaid Mendoza, Psychology
Poster Presentation: Wednesday, April 24, 1:30 – 3 p.m.
Athletes are often stereotyped as a high task-competence, low-warmth, competitive outgroup that is commonly viewed as machine-like (Fiske et al., 2002; Tipler & Ruscher, 2014). We used a 2 (language: mechanistic vs. non-mechanistic) x 2 (gender: male vs. female) between-subjects design to examine how dehumanizing descriptions of athletes may influence perceptions of their humanity. Results suggest that male athletes may be perceived as possessing less uniquely human qualities (warmth, competency, and emotional capacity) than female athletes.
