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Social NeuroscienceStereotyping & Prejudice
Race & EmotionBrenda KopariJamie Renspe
Mind & Body ConnectionJune 8th, 2007
The Social Neuroscience of Stereotyping and Prejudice
Ito et al, 2006How social category information is
perceived?How this information, in conjunction
with stereotypes, influences behavior?
StereotypingIf we categorize an individual as
belonging to a particular social group, stereotypical beliefs and prejudicial reactions associated with the entire group can become activatedThis information can influence how we
respond to an individual
Is stereotype activation decreased at lower levels of
analysis?Encoding of category membership is
attenuated; blocking activation of stereotypes and prejudice
Category membership is encoded, but activation of stereotypes and prejudice is attenuated
Category membership is encoded and stereotypes and prejudice are activated, but their application is attenuated
Prior methods of researchParticipants viewed pictures of black
and white males and females
Identify as introverted or extroverted
Indicated what vegetables the people in the pictures would like
Findings of Prior Research
Increasing the visual complexity slowed down the process of racial and gender stereotyping
Directing participants’ attention to other social cues does not inhibit racial and gender perceptions
Current StudyPart I
How does race influence the detection of weapons in a first person shooter game?
Participants viewed white or black men holding a gun or an insignificant object
Told to shoot armed targets and not shoot unarmed targets
FindingsConsistent bias against blacks
More accurate and faster in shooting armed blacks compared to armed whites
Faster and more accurate in not shooting unarmed whites compared to unarmed blacks
Unarmed blacks were more likely to be erroneously shot than unarmed whites
Findings ContinuedShooting a person who is not
associated with violence (white) generated the greatest conflict
Shooting someone stereotypically associated with violence (black) was not more problematic than not shooting himShooting a black person did not create
conflict regardless of their arms
Current Study Part II
Increased time allowance for response of the video game study
FindingsParticipants were faster to shoot
armed blacks compared to armed whites
They were faster to NOT shoot unarmed whites compared to unarmed blacks
Discussion QuestionsOut of the three white people how
many had guns?Out of the two black people how
many had guns?Do you think stereotyping and
prejudice are of your own free will?Automatic response?
Race & EmotionTo understand others successfully
you need to recognize how they feelTone of voice Facial expressions
Racial or Cultural Experience
Social experience can moderate how well one can recognize emotions
Differences are possibly why difficulties arise during interracial interactions
Origins of Emotion Recognition
Evidence that being able to express and recognize emotions in peoples faces has evolutionary roots, it is shared across cultures, and has dedicated neural machinery
Origins of Emotion Recognition
Innate human ability to express and recognize emotions in a person’s faceKnow if positive or negative expressionInnate
For example, children who are blind and deaf still communicate their emotions with similar facial expressions as other children (Eibl-Eibesfeldt, 1970)
Also, people from other cultures can recognize facial expressions at above chance levels of accuracy (Ekman, 1992)
Role of Brain:The Limbic System
AmygdalaPerception, detection and recognition of
fearful facial expressionsMedial Frontal Gyri
Recognizing angry expressionsBasal Ganglia
Engaged during recognition of happy expressions
Role of BrainHow do these regions of the brain
interact during emotion recognition?Neural processes associated with
recognition of emotions occur earlyFor example, perceiving fear in facial
expressions modulates neural responses in frontocentral regions at about 120msec (Eimer & Holmes, 2002)
Social Experience Influences the Process of Emotion
RecognitionFace
Social information like age, gender and race influence how you see yourself and how others see youAgain, you can recognize emotions in faces
from all cultures fairly accurately, but you recognize emotions most accurately with members of the same cultural group
Possibly because different levels of familiarity know own culture more
Race and the BrainPrevious Research
Examine neutral (no emotion) faces of different races
Both race and emotion likely to influence neural and behavioral responses
N. Ambady et al. conducted fMRIs and ERPs Showed the impact of race on emotional
processing Influence of emotional expression on
evaluation of in-group and out-group members
Prior ResearchDoes race affect brain
processes during emotion recognition?Chiao et al. (2004)
fMRI in 8 Caucasians (4 men, 4 women) Explicitly identified fear, anger and neutral
expressions in faces of Caucasians, Asian-Americans and African Americans (both men and women)
Each facial expression shown for 750 msecResponded within 2500 msec Prediction: Would recognize all expressions,
but most accurate at recognizing faces of the same race
FindingsAll expressions recognized at better than
chance levelsCaucasians recognized neutral faces
better than fearful and angry facesAlso better at recognizing emotions (fear and
anger) in Caucasian and Asian Americans more so than African Americans
Neural regions specifically involved in fear and anger show differences in signal change depending on the race of the person expressing the emotion
FindingsNeuroimaging
Greater amygdala activity in response to Caucasian and Asian American faces
Caucasian expressions of anger elicited increased signal change in medial front cortex
HypothesisRace of facial target would influence basic
structural face processing about 170 msec after stimulus onsetCan observe this in the amplitude of the Vertex
Positive Potential (VPP)Emotional expression being processed
would affect the extent to which race influenced neural processingSelf-report exposure to races Most exposure to CaucasiansLeast to African Americans
FindingsDetected angry expressions most
accurately in African Americans and Caucasians
Recognized fear most accurately in Caucasians
Neutral faces recognized equally across the races
Findings continuedVPP amplitude sensitive to race and
emotion of faceGreater for African American faces regardless
of emotion being expressedNeuroimaging and ERP data suggest that
race affects brain processes involved in recognizing fear and angerRegions important in recognition of fear and
anger show modulation of signal change based on the race of expressor
Not all out-group faces processed alike Why?
The emotional expression of a racially salient target influences processing of different out-group members at not only the behavioral but also the physiological level
StudiedCortical and behavioral responses of
high and low prejudiced individuals to in-group and out-group emotional stimuli
Employed an active evaluation task Participants were asked to make a socially
relevant judgment regarding in-group and out-group members
Do I want to work with this person?
FindingsHigh and low prejudiced individuals are
differently influenced by the affective relevance of in-group and out-group membersAffective nature of target stimuli may be especially
salient for low prejudiced individualsLow prejudiced individuals showed an increased
contingent negative variation (CNV) to angry out-group stimuli and in anticipation of angry faces
Supports idea that individuals monitor automatic reactions to negative stereotypes elicited by out-group stimuli
High Prejudice GroupsShowed decrease in CNV in anticipation of
angry Black targets compared with all other targets
Showed enhanced CNV in anticipation of happy White facesExtra effort to make individuating responses
when required to evaluate in-group stimuliSupports ideas that those high in prejudice
have less of a motivation or need to monitor prejudice responsesAbsence of effort to suppress prejudice
FindingsCNV amplitudes illustrate low
prejudiced individuals show greater cortical activity to angry Black targets
Evidence raced based information may trigger a societally constrained conceptual representation of race but also the manifestation of prejudice depends on how individuals process this information
FindingsFacial expressions of emotion affect
both neural and behavioral responses to in-group and out-group faces
DiscussionWhat emotions are these people
portraying?Would you want to work with this
person?
DiscussionCan you control your reactions to
different faces and races?Even though there are equal
opportunity employers, do you think that the people hiring can suppress their prejudices? High versus Low Prejudiced People