Aggressors strip victims of human status to justify their own violence

Evidence

There is empirical evidence for the occurrence of these sorts of changes following the commission of a morally ambiguous act. In a set of studies involving an experimental cover story very similar to Milgram’s, and in which subjects were led to give electric shocks to others, Brock and Buss (1962) demonstrated that the subjects’ perceptions of the individual to whom they gave shocks altered in ways that justified their morally ambiguous actions; they derogated the victim, implying that the victim somehow deserved the punishment. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3962 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Excluding people from the human community precedes mass violence. — Emanuele Castano, On the Perils of Glorifying the…, 33; People derogate their victims to justify having harmed them. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3962; Victims’ aggression gets reframed as the victim’s own deviance (+8 more)

Broader Connections

• People derogate their victims to justify having harmed them. #corroborates (0.95) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3962
• Dehumanizing victims lets perpetrators disengage self-sanctions for mistreatment #expands (0.93)