People attribute humanity in different ways based on the appearance of the male and female face.

Alaei, R., Desca, JC, Hugenberg, K., & Rule, NO (2021) People attribute human nature differently based on male and female facial appearance. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000364

Commentary

This study investigates how we perceive others, what impressions we get, and what features we find attractive.

People want others to communicate, to belong to groups with social value, and to embody greater humanity, but it is unclear whether they systematically attribute to different individuals to obtain this.

Across the five studies, we found that individuals who are less attractive and less intelligent are perceived as less human, but the impression seems to vary by gender.

The "attractiveness" better predicted the attribution of humanity to women, while the perceived "intelligence" better predicted the attribution of humanity to men. This is attributed to gender stereotypes, and is even influenced by children's attributions of humanity.

From these results, understanding how biases operate and how humanity is attributed differently by gender can be useful for future humanity development.