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Artificial intelligence (AI) is a rapidly developing technology that has the potential to create previously unimaginable chances for our societies. Still, the public’s opinion of AI remains mixed. Since AI has been integrated into many facets of daily life, it is critical to understand how people perceive these systems. The present work investigated the perceived social risk and social value of AI. In a preliminary study, AI’s social risk and social value were first operationalized and explored by adopting a correlational approach. Results highlighted that perceived social value and social risk represent two significant and antagonistic dimensions driving the perception of AI: the higher the perceived risk, the lower the social value attributed to AI. The main study considered pretested AI applications in different domains to develop a classification of AI applications based on perceived social risk and social value. A cluster analysis revealed that in the two-dimensional social risk × social value space, the considered AI technologies grouped into six clusters, with the AI applications related to medical care (e.g., assisted surgery) unexpectedly perceived as the riskiest ones. Understanding people’s perceptions of AI can guide researchers, developers, and policymakers in adopting an anthropocentric approach when designing future AI technologies to prioritize human well-being and ensure AI’s responsible and ethical development in the years to come.

Given the recognised benefits of organisational identification (OI) on workers' well‐being, we investigated the underlying mechanisms of this association in this work. We conducted a cross‐sectional study (N = 192) to examine the possible mediating role of three factors related to individuals' workplace experiences (organisational trust, the meaning of work and self‐objectification) in the relationship between OI and well‐being. Specifically, the research aims to examine the relationship between identification in the workplace and favourable well‐being outcomes. The study results demonstrated the significant indirect effects of the hypothesised model. In particular, OI was positively related to well‐being via increased trust and meaning of work and through a reduced self‐objectification experience. The findings highlight the significance of OI in relation to distal outcomes despite the potential presence of negative perceptual experiences within the relationship. This study seeks to offer innovative perspectives through which we can observe the relationship between less‐examined variables within the workplace, thus providing guidance for practitioners and researchers in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present research aims at expanding the literature on biologization (i.e., a form of dehumanization in which others are perceived as contagious entities) by providing the first empirical evidence of the link between this sociopsychological process and indirect aggression (i.e., behaviours intended to harm someone in a roundabout manner, such as excluding them from a group or society). We first identified the most dehumanized social groups in Italy. Then, by using cluster analysis, we demonstrated that biologized social groups (i.e., drug addicts, homeless people, prostitutes, and sick people) tend especially to be victims of indirect rather than direct aggression tendencies (i.e., intentions against individuals or groups to cause damage through face‐to‐face confrontation). Furthermore, we found that social groups associated with disease‐related metaphors are more likely to be victims of indirect aggression than social groups perceived as animal‐like (i.e., immigrants, prisoners, and Roma). These findings enrich our understanding of biological dehumanization and enhance the so far scarce literature on the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current work scenario is pervaded by widespread perceptions of job insecurity, which is one of the main stress factors for workers and their well‐being. This article aims to investigate the link between these perceptions and a most inner dimension, that is, people's tendency to self‐objectify (i.e., self‐viewing as objects rather than fully human beings). Furthermore, we aim to verify the role of this self‐objectifying process in explaining the well‐established relation between perceived job insecurity and well‐being. Across four studies and a single‐article meta‐analysis (total N = 684), we show that perceived job insecurity is consistently linked with self‐objectification. Furthermore, this objectifying self‐perception is associated with decreased well‐being and plays a mediational role in the link between perceived job insecurity and this latter variable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study analyses the effects of COVID-19 restrictions on self-perception of humanness through the increased sense of threat to fundamental human needs. Furthermore, in an explorative way, we analysed the possible impact of this pattern on the identification with all humanity, in terms of bond with humanity and concern for all humanity. Through a preregistered experimental study (N = 278), we showed that participants who were asked to recall COVID-19-related restrictions reported a greater sense of human needs threat and, in turn, higher levels of self-dehumanization. In addition, we found that remembering restrictions, compared to the control group, led to lower concern for humanity and indirectly affected it via increased threat of human needs and self-dehumanization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the psychological effects of the COVID‐19 emergency on workers employed in the supermarket sector by analysing their levels of burnout and the relationship between the burnout syndrome and employees' workplace experiences. A sample of 422 Italian workers answered a survey addressing the burnout dimensions (i.e., exhaustion, cynicism, and professional inefficacy) along with perceived organizational factors and dehumanizing representations. Results showed that 32% of the respondents had symptoms of severe burnout, and 41% had symptoms of exhaustion and cynicism. More specifically, through cluster analysis, four burnout profiles were identified: "burnout" (high on all three dimensions), "engagement" (low on all three dimensions), "overextended" (high on exhaustion), and "disengaged" (moderate on exhaustion and cynicism). Each cluster showed a different pattern of correlates with the organizational and dehumanizing perceptions. Our findings contribute to the knowledge gaps of burnout and workplace experiences by providing insights into the ongoing health emergency among supermarket clerks. Please refer to the Supplementary Material section to find this article's Community and Social Impact Statement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectification refers to the perception and treatment of human beings as mere objects. Although this dehumanizing process has deeply permeated the domain of work throughout history, social psychology researchers have only recently begun to empirically investigate it. Here, we review the recent literature that analysed working objectification by considering its two main facets: objectification (when workers are objectified by others) and self-objectification (when workers objectify themselves). First, we theoretically define the construct of working objectification, disentangling it from related constructs and reviewing the research on motivational and cognitive processes underpinning workers' objectification. Then, we focus on the workers' perspective and systematise the research on the consequences of the metaperception of being objectified. Finally, we focus on a series of experimental and field studies that analyse the antecedents and consequences of workers' self-objectification. We conclude by discussing future directions and highlighting the theoretical and practical contributions of this line of research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through two studies (N = 602) conducted in Italy between February and March 2020, we examined the impact of the COVID‐19 emergency on biologization—a form of dehumanization that involves the perception of others as contagious entities—and outgroup prejudice. Overall, results showed that higher emergency perception was associated with greater biologization toward the groups most affected by the virus, namely the Chinese outgroup and the Italian ingroup. In turn, biologization toward the outgroup increased prejudice against that group. We also found that when the pandemic hit Italy, the greater emergency perception was associated with increased emotional closeness with Chinese people, resulting in reduced biologization and prejudice toward them. However, these results held true only for Italian respondents who reported higher levels of ingroup biologization. Taken together, our findings contribute to the knowledge gaps of biologization and prejudice by also providing relevant insights into the ongoing health emergency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents an open usable tool, the ACME shop paradigm, for experimentally studying self-objectification due to objectifying work activities. The paradigm consists of a simulation in which participants are asked to perform an objectifying (repetitive, fragmented, and other directed) vs a non-objectifying work activity. Two studies tested the construct (convergent and discriminant) validity of the paradigm by showing its effectiveness in inducing different facets of working self-objectification – but not other forms of dehumanization – in laboratory and online settings. In the objectifying condition, participants self-objectified more, that is they self-attributed less human mental state and self-perceived as more instrument-like than participants in the non-objectifying and control (an activity characterized by objectifying features but not related to the work domain) conditions. Moreover, the convergent and discriminant validity of the paradigm in inducing self-objectification, and no other type of dehumanization, was demonstrated by the significant impact of objectifying condition on self-attribution of both agency and experience and not on self-perception as animal-like. Applications of the paradigm will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]