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.
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Sources
- Kteily, N., Bruneau, E., Waytz, A., & Cotterill, S. (2015). The Ascent of Man: Theoretical and Empirical Evidence for Blatant Dehumanization. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 109(5), 901-931. DOI: 10.1037/pspp0000048 ↗
- Kteily, N. S., & Bruneau, E. (2017). Backlash: The Politics and Real-World Consequences of Minority Group Dehumanization. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 43(1), 87-104. DOI: 10.1177/0146167216675334 ↗
How to cite this page
ScholarGate. (2026, June 23). Blatant Dehumanization Scale (Ascent of Man Measure). ScholarGate. https://scholargate.app/en/political-psychology/blatant-dehumanization-scale
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