No Hard Feelings: The Role of Self-Objectification and Self-Dehumanization in Understanding Emotions and Mental States in Cisgender Heterosexual Women

In the current research, we investigated whether self-objectification (i.e., giving priority to physical appearance over other personal attributes) and self-dehumanization (i.e., the denial of one's humanity) are associated with an impaired ability to understand others’ emotions, as reflected in empathy (both affective and cognitive) and mental state understanding, as measured by theory of mind i.e., the ability to comprehend others’ mental and emotional states). Across three studies (Ntot = 750 Italian, heterosexual, cisgender women), we examined the relation between self-objectification with empathy (Studies 1a and 1b) and theory of mind (Study 2); additionally, we tested the mediating role of self-dehumanization. Results consistently showed that self-objectification was related to reduced empathy (both affective and cognitive) and diminished theory of mind. However, these latter associations were primarily indirect; that is, self-dehumanization represented the key psychological mechanism explaining the link between self-objectification and the recognition of others’ emotions and mental states. Findings underscore the need for continued understanding of how self-objectification and self-dehumanization may be associated with factors related to intraindividual and interpersonal consequences.