Enhancing perceived patiency reduces perceived agency, and vice versa

Evidence

Although the wide variety of targets used thus far attests to the generalizability of moral typecasting, the previous studies are limited by their correlational nature. In Studies 1a and 1b, we examined typecasting as it occurs when agency or patiency is influenced by other variables (target age and mental challenge), and in Study 2 we assessed typecasting as a general correlation between agency and patiency across many targets. If moral typecasting influences moral perception, manipulations that enhance moral patiency should diminish perceptions of a target’s moral agency, and conversely, a manipulation that enhances moral agency should undermine perceptions of the target’s moral patiency. … We tested this causal hypothesis in three subsidiary studies. In Study 3a, we presented participants with two targets who differed on moral patiency and tested whether they were seen to differ in moral agency. In further studies, we manipulated the relative good moral agency (Study 3b) and bad moral agency (Study 3c) of two targets and observed whether perceptions of moral patiency were influenced. In all three studies, we predict moral typecasting: the target who is relatively more of a patient should be seen as relatively less of an agent, and the target who is relatively more of an agent should be seen as relatively less of a patient. — Kurt Gray and Daniel M. Wegner, Moral Typecasting, 78

Categorization

• QUESTION: This paired-comparison design (two targets differing on one dimension, testing divergence on the other) is precisely the template for testing recategorized religious-vs-ideological groups.
• XREF: The causal direction test here scaffolds the reader’s own experimental design idea about recategorizing religious groups as ideological. — connects to: Perceived moral agency and perceived patiency may trade off inversely even at extreme levels. — Kurt Gray and Daniel M. Wegner, Moral Typecasting: Divergent…, 59; Only moral agency, not instrumental competence, suppresses perceived patiency — Kurt Gray and Daniel M. Wegner, Moral Typecasting: Divergent…, 99; Perceiving someone as a moral agent reduces perceived moral patiency. — Kurt Gray and Daniel M. Wegner, Moral Typecasting: Divergent…, 1 (+4 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Kurt Gray and Daniel M. Wegner, Moral Typecasting: Divergent…, 78

Broader Connections

• Perceived moral agency and perceived moral patiency vary inversely across targets #corroborates (0.92) — Kurt Gray and Daniel M. Wegner, Moral Typecasting, 39
• Perceiving someone as a moral agent reduces perceived moral patiency. #exemplifies (0.90) — Kurt Gray and Daniel M. Wegner, Moral Typecasting, 1
• Moral agency specifically, not general agency, reduces perceived moral patiency. #qualifies (0.88)
• Only moral agency, not instrumental competence, suppresses perceived patiency #qualifies (0.85) — Kurt Gray and Daniel M. Wegner, Moral Typecasting, 99
• Recategorizing a target’s status shifts perceived agency and victimhood in complementary directions #exemplifies (0.80) — Kurt Gray and Daniel M. Wegner, Moral Typecasting, 37