Abstract

Objectification is the human tendency to misapprehend the depth of others, to see them not as integrated wholes of psyche and soma, worthy of respect and even reverence, but more as objects. Societal conventional wisdom is that objectification is a dichotomous variable, suggesting that either one is objectifying others or one is not. However, a new conceptual understanding of objectification proposes it as a continuous variable comprising a spectrum of misapprehension, applicable to many contexts, and engaged in routinely by most people. The proposed “objectification spectrum” runs from casual indifference at the low end, to derivatization in the middle, and finally, to dehumanization at the high end. Each of these demarcation points are defined, differentiated, and explained with examples. It is proposed that a better understanding of objectification, along with its central underlying mechanism, will enhance efforts toward diminishing its influence.