Van Bavel Jay J, Packer Dominic J, Cunningham William A
The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
Psychol Sci. 2008 Nov;19(11):1131-9. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02214.x.
Classic minimal-group studies found that people arbitrarily assigned to a novel group quickly display a range of perceptual, affective, and behavioral in-group biases. We randomly assigned participants to a mixed-race team and used functional magnetic resonance imaging to identify brain regions involved in processing novel in-group and out-group members independently of preexisting attitudes, stereotypes, or familiarity. Whereas previous research on intergroup perception found amygdala activity--typically interpreted as negativity--in response to stigmatized social groups, we found greater activity in the amygdala, fusiform gyri, orbitofrontal cortex, and dorsal striatum when participants viewed novel in-group faces than when they viewed novel out-group faces. Moreover, activity in orbitofrontal cortex mediated the in-group bias in self-reported liking for the faces. These in-group biases in neural activity were not moderated by race or by whether participants explicitly attended to team membership or race, a finding suggesting that they may occur automatically. This study helps clarify the role of neural substrates involved in perceptual and affective in-group biases.
经典的最小群体研究发现，被随机分配到一个新群体的人会迅速表现出一系列感知、情感和行为上的内群体偏见。我们将参与者随机分配到一个混合种族团队，并使用功能磁共振成像来识别独立于先前存在的态度、刻板印象或熟悉程度之外，参与处理新的内群体和外群体成员的脑区。以往关于群体间感知的研究发现，杏仁核活动——通常被解释为消极情绪——是对被污名化的社会群体的反应，而我们发现，当参与者观看新的内群体面孔时，杏仁核、梭状回、眶额皮质和背侧纹状体的活动比观看新的外群体面孔时更强烈。此外，眶额皮质的活动介导了自我报告的对面孔喜欢程度中的内群体偏见。这些神经活动中的内群体偏见不受种族或参与者是否明确关注团队成员身份或种族的影响，这一发现表明它们可能是自动发生的。这项研究有助于阐明参与感知和情感内群体偏见的神经基质的作用。
