Superhumanization Bias and Treatment-Seeking Behavior Among Black Americans

Abstract

Superhumanization bias is a phenomenon through which an individual or group is characterized as possessing superhuman qualities. Existing research has only examined this bias from the perception of White people, finding that Whites superhumanize Blacks more so than their ingroup, and display decreased pain recognition for Black vs. White targets (Waytz, Hoffman, & Trawalter, 2014). My research expands on this finding by investigating how superhumanization bias manifests for Black people. Study 1 provides evidence that Black people do implicitly attribute superhuman qualities more often to Black than White targets. Study 2 demonstrates the same trend explicitly and also provides evidence that exhibiting superhumanization bias is associated with a denial of pain. I extend these findings to the context of healthcare specifically, additionally testing whether Blacks’ superhumanization of their ingroup has any bearing on their likelihood to seek treatment for mental or physical health concerns. There was no association found, suggesting that the implications of superhumanization bias for treatment-seeking behavior are still open for investigation. However, the findings suggest that superhumanization bias is not only an outgroup process, but one that can be felt towards an ingroup.