written words cut the legs out of this account. Eberhardt’s results suggest that apes are associated with the socio-cultural, racial category “Black.” These findings reveal a deep seated, dehumanized representation that is readily triggered even in highly educated people. But perhaps they are less disturbing then we might imagine. not so bad if the take home message 1s that we are closet racists with antiquated theories of evolution or God’s design. Outside of these artificial studies, we are well educated citizens who keep our isms tucked away, locked up in our unconscious. Unfortunately, the unsettling feelings that many will have to these studies are exacerbated by an additional set of results collected by Eberhardt, linking unconscious impressions to harmful actions. Caucasian male subjects watched a video of a policeman using force to subdue a suspect who was either Black or Caucasian. When primed with an ape drawing, but not that of a tiger, subjects were more likely to say that the policeman was justified in subduing the Black suspect than the Caucasian suspect. We are more than closet racists. We are out of the closet, armed for prejudice and dehumanization. To unconsciously think that Blacks are more like apes than other racial groups is to strip them of characteristics that are uniquely human. As Haslam notes, when we dehumanize others in this particular way, we no longer see them as human, but as incompetent wild animals or immature children lacking in intelligence, etiquette, rationality, and moral wherewithal. This mode of dehumanization is ancient, reflected in the writings and paintings of European explorers who encountered indigenous cultures in Asia, Australia, and Africa. Dehumanizing others into objects is equally ancient, unflattering and dangerous. In one study, American adults were told to focus on either the physical appearance or personality of the actress Angelina Jolie and the ex-governor of Alaska and presidential hopeful Sarah Palin — b