AS POLITICAL posturing goes, calls for a 鈥渟tronger community鈥� rival those for motherhood and apple pie. Who could possibly argue against community spirit? Yet there may be a twist.
The insights come from studies of our remarkable tendency to anthropomorphise, which may explain everything from our opinions on abortion and animal rights to our behaviour when gambling. This trait evolved as a by-product of the brain鈥檚 attempts to make sense of an unpredictable world, and it might also keep the social brain ticking over during times of isolation (鈥淚n our own image: Why we treat things like people鈥�).
Since we see human qualities in inanimate objects, the researchers involved wondered if there was a flip side to anthropomorphism. If loneliness, and the sense that we have lost control, are known to make us see human intentions in the dumb and inanimate, could converse factors 鈥� feelings of social connection and power 鈥� lead us to dehumanise people outside of our own community?
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Preliminary results would suggest so. Volunteers placed in a position of power were more likely to objectify others, viewing them as disposable pawns rather than emotional humans, for example. And an unpublished study by Adam Waytz at Harvard University found that volunteers primed to feel more socially connected by thinking about a family holiday were more likely to endorse the use of torture techniques such as waterboarding.
鈥淭hose who felt socially connected were more likely to endorse harsh interrogation techniques鈥�
These are knee-jerk reactions 鈥� easily as irrational as the anthropomorphic tendency to talk to plants. Yet it is easy to see how they could sway political opinion. Immigration and fear of terrorism, for example, are key issues for many countries. Seemingly innocuous attempts to strengthen the community, such as the UK government鈥檚 鈥渂ig society鈥� policy, could unwittingly encourage us to be harsher when considering asylum cases or dealing with terrorism suspects.
Of course, it is important not to simplify these complex debates based on a few psychological studies. But it remains a sobering thought that attempts at creating a utopian society would have to wrestle with an unsettling idea. The more comfortable we feel, the less honourably we may act towards those outside our own social network.