Dehumanizing

To perceive an individual or a human group as devoid of human characteristics and qualities perceiving them instead with animalistic or mechanistic characteristics. Baron-Cohen suggests dehumanization is the result of low or no empathy so that the pain of others is not felt; moral and ethical thought and behavior is likewise suspended. (Baron-Cohen S: Zero Degrees of Empathy. Allen Lane Publishing. 2011). However, Baron-Cohen’s critique does not include cultural, hierarchical, or personal interest or survival as components in dehumanization.