Blatant Dehumanization Scale

The Blatant Dehumanization Scale, also called the Ascent of Man measure, captures the willingness to overtly deny full humanity to an out-group. Developed by Nour Kteily, Emile Bruneau, Adam Waytz, and Sarah Cotterill in 2015, it uses the iconic evolutionary image of a creature progressing from ape to upright human and asks respondents to rate, on a slider from zero to one hundred, how evolved different social groups are. The gap between how human respondents rate their own group and how human they rate an out-group is a strikingly direct, robust predictor of hostility, support for coercive policies, and aggression that goes beyond ordinary dislike.