Does sexual objectification impact levels of empathy?

Sexual objectification refers to the instrumental treatment of individuals to achieve goals of sexual desire. Swift judgements of sexually objectified targets are highly influenced by their physical appearance. Such misattributions include the belief that targets are less human, moral, or competent. In light of the driving forces behind gender-based violence, explanations may lie in the potential connections between violent behaviours and a reduction in the ability to empathize with recipients of violent acts.

In this study, the authors hypothesized that empathic reactions for targets in social situations can be modulated by the target’s level of sexual objectification. To determine this, researchers had both male and female participants rate two women based on intelligence and physical appearance. These women contrasted in terms of fashion; one was an objectified woman (short dress, heels, heavy make-up), while the other was a personalized woman (simple clothes and light make-up).

Afterwards, participants took part in the Cyberball task, which is a virtual game of toss, designed to induce feelings of social inclusion (having the ball consistently passed towards the subject) or social exclusion (being ignored by the other players, making subjects feel left out). After each game of Cyberball, participants were asked to rate their emotions from a scale of -10 to +10. Participants also watched games of Cyberball featuring one of the two women they previously evaluated, and were asked to use the same emotion rating scale to describe how the woman felt after each clip (games were either socially inclusive or exclusive).

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed to visualize brain activity during both first-hand and observational experiences. Neural correlates of empathy have been well established in literature; therefore, the authors were interested to decipher if activity in such areas was dampened for objectified women.

Results of the intellectual and physical appearance ratings of the objectified and personalized women were consistent with the known biases that rise from sexual objectification. The personalized woman was associated with higher intelligence and less attractiveness. In contrast, the objectified woman was attributed to having a lower intelligence, with high sexiness and attractiveness. These ratings also revealed that participants believed the objectified woman to have a lower sense of agency, which is the ability to act independently and make free choices. This finding speaks to the dangers of the misinterpretations of objectified individuals based on appearance alone, for their association as “mindless objects” may allow a perpetrator to face an easier decision to follow through with a violent act.

Results from the Cyberball task revealed that negative emotion rating scores elicited by social exclusion were not different between first-hand experiences and the participants’ perceived emotional evaluation of either woman presented. However, positive emotion rating scores evoked by social inclusion proved to be less intense for the objectified woman. This result displays behavioural evidence of a lack of empathy towards objectified women.

Moreover, fMRI findings exhibited increased activity in known regions associated with empathy (anterior insula, anterior middle cingulate cortex, medial frontal cortex, and posterior insula) when participants watched clips of the personalized woman facing social exclusion. On the other hand, when participants witnessed the objectified woman experiencing social exclusion, brain activity within the empathic-related regions mentioned above was not nearly as strong as it was for the personalized woman.

This study provides empirical evidence of lower empathic reactions for objectified women on both a behavioural and neurophysiological level. Although personal motivations behind such results are not fully established, this study serves as a stepping stone to understanding the vital role a lack of empathy contributes to gender-based violence.

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Source:

• Cogoni, C., Carnaghi, A., & Silani, G. (2018). Reduced empathic responses for sexually objectified women: An fMRI investigation. Cortex, 99, 258-272.