Even disavowed dehumanization flipped to bestialization after a mass casualty attack.

Evidence

This finding is all the more striking because dehumanization was measured in terms of a beastly nature. The less extreme forms of dehumanization tend to characterize terrorists and enemy leaders as inherently evil and devoid of any moral sense rather than as beastly creatures. A likely explanation for this moral reversal was the enormity of the intentional massacre of a huge number of innocent people and the heightened sense of personal vulnerability participants felt after the attack on their homeland. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2291

Categorization

• SEED: Angle: what specific form of dehumanization extreme events unlock — bestial vs. morally-evil dehumanization — and how that shapes how an enemy gets treated (extermination vs. punishment).