Data for: Compensating for the Loss of Human Distinctiveness: The Use of Social Creativity under Human-Machine Comparisons

Human–machine intellectual comparisons increasingly threaten the distinctiveness of humans. Drawing on social identity theory, we assume that people will manage the distinctiveness threat from human–machine comparisons using a social creativity strategy. On this basis, we investigate whether people compensate for the loss of human distinctiveness by valuing “alternative” human attributes. A preliminary study first distinguished various attributes of humanness into threatened and alternative dimensions; then, studies 1–3 found that participants primed with human–machine comparison, compared to controls, evaluated the alternative dimension as uniquely human (Study 1) and as superior to machines (Studies 2–3). Finally, Study 4 found that the perceived loss of distinctiveness in threatened dimensions led people to evaluate the alternative dimension as valuable for humanness. These findings suggest that people use social creativity to manage distinctiveness threat under human–machine comparison.