Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Stawki 5/7 Street, 00-183, Warszawa, Poland.
Bioimaging Research Center, World Hearing Center of Institute of Physiology and Pathology of Hearing, Warszawa, Poland.
Sci Rep. 2023 Mar 13;13(1):4127. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-31146-1.
The widespread ubiquity of hate speech affects people's attitudes and behavior. Exposure to hate speech can lead to prejudice, dehumanization, and lack of empathy towards members of outgroups. However, the impact of exposure to hate speech on empathy and propensity to attribute mental states to others has never been directly tested empirically. In this fMRI study, we examine the effects of exposure to hate speech on neural mechanisms of empathy towards ingroup (Poles) versus outgroup members (Arabs). Thirty healthy young adults were randomly assigned to 2 groups: hateful and neutral. During the fMRI study, they were initially exposed to hateful or neutral comments and subsequently to narratives depicting Poles and Arabs in pain. Using whole-brain and region of interest analysis, we showed that exposure to derogatory language about migrants attenuates the brain response to someone else's pain in the right temporal parietal junction (rTPJ), irrespective of group membership (Poles or Arabs). Given that rTPJ is associated with processes relevant to perspective-taking, its reduced activity might be related to a decreased propensity to take the psychological perspective of others. This finding suggests that hate speech affects human functioning beyond intergroup relations.
仇恨言论的广泛存在影响着人们的态度和行为。接触仇恨言论可能导致对群体外成员的偏见、去人性化和缺乏同理心。然而，接触仇恨言论对同理心和归因于他人心理状态的倾向的影响从未被直接经验性地测试过。在这项 fMRI 研究中，我们研究了接触仇恨言论对同理心的神经机制的影响，即对内群体（波兰人）与外群体（阿拉伯人）成员的同理心。30 名健康的年轻人被随机分配到 2 个组：仇恨组和中性组。在 fMRI 研究中，他们最初接触到仇恨或中性的评论，然后接触到描述波兰人和阿拉伯人痛苦的叙述。使用全脑和感兴趣区域分析，我们表明，接触关于移民的贬损语言会削弱大脑对他人痛苦的反应，而与群体成员身份（波兰人或阿拉伯人）无关。鉴于 rTPJ 与与换位思考相关的过程有关，其活动减少可能与降低对他人心理状态的倾向有关。这一发现表明，仇恨言论对人类的功能影响超出了群体关系。
