Abstract:

Interpersonal invisibility is considered a subtle form of interpersonal bias and stigmatization. Unlike explicit negative attention to specific targets, interpersonal invisibility essentially reflects implicit devaluation and rejection of specific targets in social interactions. Our analysis identifies three main characteristics of interpersonal invisibility: (1) it occurs in interpersonal interaction contexts; (2) it is a state where the perceivers show minimal cognitive, emotional, and behavioral investment in the target during interactions; (3) it can be intentional or unintentional by the perceiver, and is easily perceived and experienced by the target in interactions.

Interpersonal invisibility is closely related to social hierarchy. Evidence shows that individuals of lower (vs. higher) social hierarchy are more likely to experience interpersonal invisibility. Specifically, some early studies conducted in workplaces, schools, and medical settings have shed light on the prevalence of interpersonal invisibility among individuals within lower social hierarchies. For example, these studies have found that nurses, building cleaners, hotel staffs, and other similar workers often report feeling invisible by others. More importantly, recent social cognitive research on interpersonal invisibility has further examined how people’s social processing characteristics towards targets from different social hierarchies, clarifying that people are more prone to interpersonal invisibility towards lower social hierarchy targets compared to those of higher social hierarchy.

Additionally, we argue for some theoretical explanations for interpersonal invisibility towards lower social hierarchy individuals from both societal and individual perspectives, including sociocultural mechanisms explanation, status hypothesis, affordance-management theory, and intersectional invisibility theory. Firstly, the sociocultural mechanisms explanation and intersectional invisibility theory are grounded in the social level, focusing on external factors that influence interpersonal invisibility towards lower social hierarchy individuals, such as sociocultural and mainstream ideologies. The former rationalizes inequality through the sociocultural environment, whereby social concepts and ideologies are shaped and internalized, placing disadvantaged groups at a disadvantage across various social hierarchies. The latter further specifies this by focusing on the prototypicality of identities constructed by mainstream ideologies, pointing out that individuals with multiple non-prototypical identities are more prone to interpersonal invisibility. The status hypothesis and affordance-management theory are based on the individual level, focusing on individual internal and situational factors that affect interpersonal invisibility.

The status hypothesis posits that individuals are motivated by status, with a tendency to direct their attention towards high-status individuals (as opposed to low-status individuals) in order to enhance their own status. However, this theory emphasizes the intrinsic motivation for universal status pursuit and overlooks the relevance of interpersonal targets to current goals in different contexts. The affordance-management theory further deepens and refines the status hypothesis by focusing on the moderating role of goal relevance assessment from a cognitive perspective. It proposes that in addition to the opportunity dimension (potential interpersonal value and benefits), threat is also an important assessment dimension influencing individual attention to targets. When lower social hierarchy targets are perceived as irrelevant to the goals of the perceiver, they are at a higher risk of experiencing interpersonal invisibility. Additionally, the interplay between theories at the societal and individual levels is interrelated, shaping and reshaping individual interaction patterns over time.

Finally, considering the limitations of existing research on interpersonal invisibility, some future research directions are proposed: (1) refining the conceptual definition and measurement of interpersonal invisibility; (2) deepening theoretical research on interpersonal invisibility of lower social hierarchy individuals; (3) exploring the interaction effects of social hierarchy of both interactants; (4) focusing on and intervening in the negative consequences of interpersonal invisibility; (5) exploring the potential unique effects of interpersonal invisibility in the context of Chinese sociocultural background.

Key words: interpersonal invisibility, social hierarchy, theoretical explanations, social interaction