.png)
By Sorana Bucseneanu
Despite great progress towards social justice and diversity, social prejudices continue to fuel conflicts, leading to discrimination and harm. In 2020, for example, a highly esteemed Romanian scholar at the University of Maryland posted a meme in which Roma people were depicted as crows, a derogatory comparison often used in Romania for Roma and People of Color (1). Events like these are a bleak reminder that racial tensions are still strong. Sadly, this is just one of the many discriminatory obstacles faced by this minority group because of deeply rooted stereotypes, prejudiced attitudes, and ignorance of the community’s past. This aspect of racism is also reflected in Romania’s institutions, as studies show that in Eastern Europe, the Roma minority often faces various barriers in the healthcare system, where quality medical care is hindered due to cultural, racial, and ethnic stigma (2). The same vicissitudes are present in the educational system (3), where deeply rooted stereotypes and segregation limit the integration of the Roma community and harm children’s ability to reach their academic potential.
But why do we, as individuals and as a society, often favor some groups over others?
Why does someone’s ethnicity, nationality, or gender influence our perception of them and the emotions we feel toward them?
Although the survival of our species has been highly reliant on group collaboration, simply the existence of groups often leads to prejudice. According to Dovidio and Gaertner, this refers to the preference for one’s group members (the ingroup) or disdain toward other people and groups (the outgroup) based on preexisting ideas and beliefs (4). At the core of prejudice, according to Dr. David Amodio, are difference, competition, fear, or threat. Social neuroscience aims to provide explanations for why this happens by connecting the brain to social behaviors.
The Amygdala
“The human mind must think with the aid of categories. . . . We cannot possibly avoid this process. Orderly living depends on it.” (Gordon Allport, 1954) (5)
Every day, humans rely on cognitive shortcuts to represent and classify stimuli. This categorization, however, becomes potentially problematic when it is applied to how one perceives others. Some argue that this ability might have once been a useful adaptive mechanism to our ancestors, for whom being able to quickly tell apart ingroup from outgroup members could have been evolutionarily advantageous. Could this mindset have been so efficient in the past that it still makes us skeptical of those we deem “different” from us?
Prejudice can also make us perceive faces in a biased way. For example, if one has preconceived ideas and beliefs about a specific group, one might find them visually more threatening. One study showed that participants experienced increased amygdala activity when shown images of African American targets compared to Caucasian ones (6). Since the amygdala responds to threat stimuli, this increased activity suggests that prejudiced beliefs can lead to the perception of certain groups as more threatening.
However, it's undeniable that humans possess a remarkable ability to perceive faces, leveraging a sophisticated network of brain regions such as the fusiform cortex, occipital cortex, and temporal lobe for tasks like identifying, encoding features, tracking orientation, and recognizing identities (7). At the initial stage of face perception, configural face processing allows humans to perceive the arrangements of different features typical of a human face (e.g. eyes, nose, mouth) as a human, as opposed to an animal face. In a study investigating the own-race bias effect, which refers to the phenomenon where faces from one's own racial group are recognized more accurately than those from other racial groups, one study observed increased activity in the fusiform gyrus among White participants when viewing faces from their own racial group compared to faces from other racial groups (8). This neural activity pattern was correlated with better memory for faces from their own racial group, indicating a stronger emphasis on configural encoding of ingroup faces during early perceptual processing.
The Insula
The insula, which represents a large cortical region adjacent to the frontal cortex, has been
identified as another brain region associated with prejudice. Besides its role in processing and representing interoceptive signals, thus supporting emotion awareness and cognitive control, the insula is implicated in mediating feelings of social disapproval. Neuroimaging studies show insula activity in response to racial outgroup versus ingroup members, often interpreted as a negative visceral reaction, like disgust. This is associated with implicit negative attitudes in white subjects towards black people. The anterior insula might help detect and regulate behavior based on prejudicial responses. Conversely, the insula is also active in prosocial emotions like empathy, particularly toward individuals from the same racial group or liked outgroups when they experience harm. This suggests that empathy-related insula activity depends on social affiliation (9).
The Striatum
The striatum, part of the basal ganglia, is responsible for instrumental learning and reward processes by coordinating goal-directed behavior. Neuroimaging studies indicate its involvement in computing action value and anticipating outcomes. In social perception, the striatum shows increased activity when individuals view ingroup members compared to outgroup ones. For instance, in Implicit Association Tests, stronger striatal activity is seen when viewing ingroup faces, reflecting implicit preferences (10). Similarly, trust towards outgroup members correlates with striatal activity in economic bargaining tasks. These findings suggest the striatum plays a vital role in guiding positive intergroup interactions by assessing social stimuli and influencing behaviors based on learned associations and anticipated rewards.
While a larger number of brain regions are involved in prejudice formation and activation, the intricate interplay between brain regions like the amygdala, insula, and striatum sheds light on the neural mechanisms underlying prejudice, offering insights into the complexities of social cognition and behavior. As science uncovers the brain processes that underlie prejudice, new evidence-based and science-driven interventions can be developed to redue bias and prevent harm.
References
Comments