ABSTRACT
People employ a large menagerie of animal names to refer to human attributes and identities. Animals present a rich metaphorical domain that we can use to praise or to vilify, to express love or hatred, and to humanize and dehumanize. Although animal metaphors carry diverse meanings and serve varied ends, the more general concept of animality tends to have a negative connotation, representing immorality, stupidity, savagery, and primitiveness. This idea of animality as a devalued contrast to humanness increasingly appears to be a major dimension of social perception. Consciously or nonconsciously, blatantly or subtly, some ethnic, racial, and gender groups are often judged to be less human and more animal-like than others. This chapter explores the workings of animal metaphors as they appear in recent social psychological work, with a special focus on research into dehumanization. We argue that although the use of animal metaphors is not invariably dehumanizing, the belief that some humans are particularly animal-like is both dangerous and troublingly prevalent.
