De-umanizzazione (e umanizzazione) nelle relazioni intergruppi. La prospettiva della psicologia sociale sperimentale

De-humanization (and Humanization) in Intergroup Relations: The Perspective of Experimental Social Psychology - History, even in its more recent years, offers many examples of the denial of full humanity to a social group and its members. Nevertheless this phenomenon has only recently attracted the attention and the interest of empirical research in social psychology. In the current contribution we present the state of the art of the research on processes of de-humanization and humanization in intergroup relations. Particularly the present review covers the followings topics: conceptions and operationalizations of humanness and de-humanization used in empirical research; the main variables in intergroup relations that may influence, fostering or reducing, the acknowledgement of a group’s full humanity; de-humanization between gender groups and on the basis of people’s sexual orientation; functions of de-humanization and ingroup humanization in intergroup relations.