Perceiving someone as an agent shifts how we categorize a paired neutral person

Evidence

This dyadic schema should lead people to imagine a moral dyad even where none exist—a kind of phantom dyad—such that a person paired with an agent should look like a patient, and a person paired with a patient should look like an agent. In this study, we presented participants with a description and a picture of a neutral target and, between subjects, placed it alongside the picture and description of either a moral agent (a red cross pilot) or a moral patient (an orphan). We predict that, next to the orphan, the neutral target would be perceived as more agentic and as less of a patient, relative to when paired with the pilot. — Kurt Gray and Daniel M. Wegner, Moral Typecasting, 121

Categorization

• XREF: Directly the experimental template the reader needs: recategorizing a paired target shifts perceived moral status — mirrors recategorizing a religious group as ‘ideological’ to shift perceived threat. — connects to: Moral typecasting predicts neutral agents are victimized, contradicting just-world logic — Kurt Gray and Daniel M. Wegner, Moral Typecasting: Divergent…, 105; Perceiving someone as a moral agent reduces perceived moral patiency. — Kurt Gray and Daniel M. Wegner, Moral Typecasting: Divergent…, 1; Perceiving someone as a moral agent may preclude perceiving them as a moral patient — Kurt Gray and Daniel M. Wegner, Moral Typecasting: Divergent…, 21 (+3 more)
• SEED: Angle for reframing how category labels at the level of representation (agent/patient, religious/ideological) rewire moral perception of nearby targets.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Kurt Gray and Daniel M. Wegner, Moral Typecasting: Divergent…, 121

Broader Connections

• Perceiving someone as a moral agent reduces perceived moral patiency. #corroborates (0.92) — Kurt Gray and Daniel M. Wegner, Moral Typecasting, 1
• Perceiving someone as a moral agent may preclude perceiving them as a moral patient #corroborates (0.90) — Kurt Gray and Daniel M. Wegner, Moral Typecasting, 21
• Moral typecasting theory divides targets into agents, patients, and neutral roles for experimental comparison #expands (0.88) — Kurt Gray and Daniel M. Wegner, Moral Typecasting, 141
• Perceived agency and patiency shift based on whom a target is paired with #expands (0.85) — Kurt Gray and Daniel M. Wegner, Moral Typecasting, 128
• Social perception reduces to agentic and communal attribute dimensions #expands (0.72) — John F. Dovidio, Peter Glick, Laurie A. Rudman, On the Nature of Prejudice, 861