A New Look of Dehumanization in Work Domain: The Relationship between Communication Means and Disrespect to Deliveryman
- 1 Shanghai Foreign Language School, Shanghai, China
Abstract
The present study provides a new aspect to understand the disrespect to deliveryman. A survey was conducted based on the hypothesis which assumed that the disrespect is caused by the indirect communication via technology, mediated by mechanistic dehumanization. Using cashier as the representative of jobs which adopt traditional face-to-face communication, we tested the dehumanization of deliveryman through four measurements and then tested the disrespect degree by giving an unpleasant scenario. The result suggests that people significantly dehumanize deliveryman more in two measurements. Additionally, the dehumanization degrees of these two measurements are positively correlated with disrespect degrees. In general, the finding provides a new aspect to view the dehumanization in the work domain.
- Andrighetto, L., Baldissarri, C., & Volpato, C. (2016). (Still) Modern Times: Objectification at Work: Objectification of Factory Workers. European Journal of Social Psychology, 47, 25-35. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2190
- Haslam, N. (2006). Dehumanization: An Integrative Review. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10, 252-264. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327957pspr1003_4
- Haslam, N., & Loughnan, S. (2014) Dehumanization and Infrahumanization. Annual Review of Psychology, 65, 399-423. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010213-115045
- Leyens, J. Ph., Rodriguez, A. P., Rodriguez, R. T., Gaunt, R., Paladino, P. M., Vaes, J. et al. (2001). Psychological Essentialism and the Attribution of Uniquely Human Emotions to In-Groups and Out-Groups. European Journal of Social Psychology, 31, 395-411. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.50
- Nissenbaum, H., & Walker, D. (1998). Will Computers Dehumanize Education? A Grounded Approach to Values at Risk. Technology in Society, 20, 237-273. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0160-791X(98)00011-6
- Smith, D. L. (2011). Less Than Human: Why We Demean, Enslave, and Exterminate Others. New York: St. Martin’s Press.
- Smith, M. B., & Zimbardo, P. (2007). The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil. New York: Random House.
- Valtorta, R. R., Baldissarri, C., Andrighetto, L., & Volpato, C. (2019). Dirty Jobs and Dehumanization of Workers. British Journal of Social Psychology, 58, 955-970. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjso.12315
- Waytz, A., & Gray, K. (2018). Does Online Technology Make Us More or Less Sociable? A Preliminary Review and Call for Research. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 13, 473-491. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691617746509
- Zhao, Y. (2014). Psychology Research of the Express Enterprise Customer Complaint Behavior. Logistics Engineering and Management, 236, 95-96.