Rehumanizing the Dehumanized: How Human and Canine Companions Affect Perceptions of Homeless People

Abstract

Macro-level, socio-structural roles combine with micro-level, individual vulnerabilities to generate a population at risk for homelessness. Society stigmatizes homeless people, harming their social and psychological well-being. However, associations between members of different social groups can influence observers’ perceptions of the individuals. Previous data suggests that associations with negatively-viewed individuals stigmatizes an otherwise un-stigmatized person. But little research explores the potential for de-stigmatization of negatively-viewed individuals through associations with positively-viewed individuals. The present experiment used the Stereotype Content Model to manipulate warmth and competence levels of a canine or human accompanying a homeless man, in order to investigate the effects of social pairings on perceptions of the homeless man. The study predicted: If a homeless man is associated with social groups and dog breeds in different quadrants of the SCM, then 1) warmth and competence manipulations should have a main effect on warmth and competence ratings of the homeless man, respectively; 2) warmth and competence manipulations should have an interaction effect such that high-warmth, high-competence affiliates most positively affect perceptions; 3) emotions toward the homeless man should be strongest in their respective quadrants; and 4) either the canine affiliates or the human affiliates should have a stronger main effect. Results showed a positive spillover of high-warmth/high-competence affiliates on warmth/competence ratings of the homeless man. Unexpectedly, high-competence affiliates led to significantly higher warmth and competence ratings of the homeless man. These findings suggest that affiliating with positively-viewed individuals can potentially ameliorate some of the lived experience of stigmatization for homeless people.