When the cyclist is an insect
Does wearing an helmet makes you less of a human?
Hello and welcome back to this new post on “The Pills of Psy”, where we take interesting papers published in the social sciences, and especially Psychology, and we summarize them. That you are interested in psychology, cycling, bugs, or your just need a new topic to talk about during your next coffee break, we got you covered.
Today we take a look at how our attire can shape the way others perceive us. In a recent study by Limb and Collyer published in “Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour”, the authors delved into the intriguing realm of cyclist dehumanization. Their research aimed to uncover the influence of safety attire on how cyclists are perceived by others. I am a cyclist myself and I have spent the years of my Ph.D. working on people perception of others, so this article definitely caught my attention! Let’s dive into the study’s findings and gain insights into this captivating topic.
Cycling, attire, and dehumanization
Efforts to promote cycling as an environmentally friendly and healthy mode of transportation face challenges due to the lack of adequate cycling infrastructure and negative attitudes towards cyclists. Previous research has shown that these negative attitudes can lead to aggressive behaviors towards cyclists and even perceptions of them as less than fully human. With term dehumanization, we refer to the denial of a person’s full humanity, including their higher order traits and unique human attributes, and it can manifest in subtle or overt forms across various domains of life such as ethnicity, gender, technology, and education. Previous research has established a connection between negative attitudes towards cyclists and aggressive driving behaviors, but the discovery of a link to dehumanization sheds light on the underlying reasons for such violent and aggressive behaviors. By understanding that dehumanization plays a significant role in motorists’ aggression towards cyclists, there is potential to mitigate this aggression by implementing strategies that aim to rehumanize cyclists. While the exact reasons for perceiving cyclists as less human are not yet fully understood, it has been suggested that their attire may contribute to The researchers hypothesized that wearing a bicycle helmet might lead to perceptions of decreased humanization due to the reduced visibility of the wearer’s eyes and hair. To test this, they conducted a survey using paired photographs of cyclists wearing different attire, and participants were asked to choose which photograph appeared less human. The survey also included questions about general attitudes towards the dehumanization of cyclists, demographic information, and other relevant factors. The survey was conducted online over a period of approximately three months, and participants were recruited through media reports and targeted Facebook advertisements. The results of the survey were analyzed using a Bradley-Terry probability model to identify the photographs that were more likely to be selected as less human. Additionally, the survey included an open-ended qualitative question for participants to express their views on the topic.this perception of “otherness”. However, due to a scarcity of research and agreement in this area, there is a limited understanding of how the appearance of cyclists might influence drivers’ perceptions and behaviors.
How much of an insect are you?
The researchers hypothesized that wearing a bicycle helmet might lead to perceptions of decreased humanization due to the reduced visibility of the wearer’s eyes and hair. To test this, they conducted a survey using paired photographs of cyclists wearing different attire (no head wear, a baseball cap, a standard helmet, a high visibility vest), and participants were asked to choose which photograph appeared less human. The survey also included questions about general attitudes towards the dehumanization of cyclists, demographic information, and other relevant factors, including a scale, the Insect based ascent of man scale, that ask participants to rate on a scale from 0 (small insect) to 100 (full human), how evolved they think the average cyclist is. The survey was conducted online over a period of approximately three months, and participants were recruited through media reports and targeted advertisements. The results of the survey were analyzed using a probability model to identify the photographs that were more likely to be selected as less human. Additionally, the survey included an open-ended qualitative question for participants to express their views on the topic.
Is the helmet dehumanizing?
The study found that people perceive cyclists wearing helmets as less human compared to those without helmets. However, the perception of dehumanization was not solely due to helmets obscuring hair and facial features. Interestingly, cyclists wearing caps were seen as more human than those wearing helmets, even though they obscured a similar amount of hair and facial features. On the other hand, cyclists without helmets but wearing high visibility vests were perceived as less human compared to all other types of attire tested. This suggests that safety attire itself may contribute to dehumanization, rather than just obscuring hair and facial features.
The study suggests that one possible reason for this dehumanization is the concept of “othering.” When people wear activity-specific clothing that marks them as part of a particular group, especially if that group is already negatively perceived, their negative reputation may be assigned to the individual. Previous research has shown that cyclists are often portrayed as a minority group, an “out group,” or hazards, and are considered to have lower social status compared to car drivers. These perceptions of low status can lead to dehumanization, where cyclists are seen as less civilized and evolved than higher-status groups.
The study also found that gender plays a role in perceptions of cyclists. Men were less likely to note differences between models (with and without helmets or vests), while women showed a stronger preference for the female model. Men’s higher risk tolerance may lead them to perceive those taking more extreme safety measures, such as wearing safety gear, as less human than those who don’t.
In conclusion, the study on the perception of cyclists wearing safety attire has shed light on an important issue: the dehumanization of cyclists and its potential consequences. The findings suggest that wearing safety gear, such as helmets and high visibility vests, may contribute to the perception of cyclists as less human.
If you are interested in this work, you can read the full article online at the following link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2023.05.008
As usual, I hope you enjoyed this post. If you found it interesting, please clap your hand and subscribe to our publication! And if you have interesting articles you’d like us to discuss, don’t hesitate and send em over!
Today’s article: Limb, M., & Collyer, S. (2023). The effect of safety attire on perceptions of cyclist dehumanisation. Transportation Research Part F: Traffic Psychology and Behaviour, 95, 494–509. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trf.2023.05.008
