Unethical prosocial behaviour and self-dehumanization: The roles of social connectedness and perceived morality

Unethical prosocial behaviour (UPB) refers to acts where people violate widely held moral rules to benefit others. In light of previous research on the association between immoral behaviours and dehumanization, we examined whether and how engaging in UPB would impact the tendency to self-dehumanize. Across four studies (valid N = 1640), we found that UPB led to less self-dehumanization than unethical proself behaviour, which was mediated sequentially by social connectedness and perceived morality (Studies 2–4). Moreover, the comparison between UPB and ethical prosocial behaviour indicated that UPB did not necessarily lead to more self-dehumanization than ethical prosocial behaviour (Study 4). Although UPB was rated as less moral, it was associated with similar levels of social connectedness as ethical prosocial behaviour. These results have significant implications for research on morality and dehumanization and highlight the role of social connectedness in reducing dehumanization.