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Perceiving Pure Evil: The Influence of Cognitive Load and Prototypical Evilness on Demonizing

Abstract  

The present research sought to investigate the psychological dynamics underlying demonizing, that is, the tendency to see
others as personifications of pure evilness. Building on an integrative theoretical framework, it is hypothesized that the
extent to which a perpetrator matches prototypical expectations of evilness shapes demonizing responses to offenders particularly
when cognitive resources are impaired. In two experiments, participants were asked to memorize either a difficult or an easy
telephone number (cognitive load vs. control), and were then asked to evaluate a perpetrator who murdered a young woman (Experiment
1) or who kidnapped a child (Experiment 2). Results revealed that the extent to which the description of the perpetrator was
consistent with a prototypical evilness scheme influenced demonizing particularly under conditions of cognitive load. It is
concluded that impairment of cognitive resources increases the influence of prototypical evilness on demonizing.

  • Content Type Journal Article
  • DOI 10.1007/s11211-010-0119-y
  • Authors
    • Jan-Willem van Prooijen, Department of Social Psychology, VU University Amsterdam, Van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands
    • Evelien van de Veer, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
    • Journal Social Justice Research
    • Online ISSN 1573-6725
    • Print ISSN 0885-7466
Posted in: Journal Article Abstracts on 12/03/2010 | Link to this post on IFP |
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