7. Bias in brain and body

Question 1

Group perception

Answer 1

Minimal group paradigm – ingroup vs outgroup
- Minimal group: People split into tigers or leopards group
- Then shown a target which were either in the ingroup or outgroup
- Socially relevant group: Compared brain activity to a ‘control’ group i.e. people who were split into racial groups in separate condition.
- Activity in amygdala in both conditions (Van Bavel et al., 2008)

Question 2

Race as social construct

Answer 2

• no genetic basis
• more differences within racial/ethnic groups than between them

Question 3

Amygdala

Answer 3

• Sub-cortical structure involved in affective processing
  
  • Vigilance: Assigns emotional salience
• Most inter-connected brain region
  
  • Influences basic sensory processing & higher-order cognition
• Vicarious (observational) social learning
• Basic reward contingencies & conditioning
• Strong reciprocal connections to
  
  • Prefrontal regions
    
    • Pathway for top-down control & bottom-up influence
• Hippocampus
  
  • Memory
• Striatum
  
  • Value
• Dorsal visual pathway
  
  • Sensory processing
• Influences everything from guiding visual input to executing action

Question 4

Volz et al. (2009)

Answer 4

• amygdala part of learning evaluation network

Ingroup vs outgroup trials show a difference in activity: Anterior insula and middle frontal gyrus involved in interoception (being aware of your body’s internal states) + disgust response

• Mixed trials vs separation of ingroup and outgroup: more activity in social cognition brain network e.g. dMPFC, PCC, pACC, TPJ
• Helps us figure out what other people are thinking
• In dealing w purely ingroup / outgroup: can rely on stereotypes for information
• In mixed trials: have to view the individual as a person to make judgements

Question 5

Amygdala underlies bias response (Phelps et al., 2000)

Answer 5

Ps had to categorise black and white faces in IAT. Given startle eye blink test

- correlated w/ startle eyeblink =  fear conditioning
- correlated w IAT
- did not correlate w/ modern racism score

Question 6

Race in the brain (Kubota et al., 2012)

Answer 6

-Fusiform gyrus: identification of race from faces

• Amygdala: race-based evaluations, expression.

vMPFC: responsible for inhibition

• DLPFC: regulating racial bias -Executive function and cognitive control
• ACC: monitoring for racial bias
• People need to be first aware of their biases. Then reulatory and inhibitory functions (of DLPFC and vmPFC) can kick in.
• Other-race effect: People find it harder to recognize individuals from a different race than their own. Effect more prominent in people who come from homogenous backgrounds.
• Looking at the neural basis of implicit attitudes provides us with information that is otherwise unattainable through simply assessing them behaviorally

Question 7

Striatum

Answer 7

Dopamine

• Plays a role in subjective evaluation signals.
• Classical conditioning: When conditioning a neutral stimulus to a reward stimulus, cells in the striatum first fire to the reward stimulus, then fire towards the conditioned stimulus.
• Separate brain mechanisms for reward and punishment.

Question 8

Value

Answer 8

Decision-making depends on more than prior histories

• The brain assigns value to a stimulus based on prior experience with it
• Value depends on:
  Context i.e. how close you are to that person
  -Fictive Error (what might have been i.e. an alternative positive/negative interaction)
• Value is essentially a social construct
• Value interacts with prior histories (experience) constantly updating i.e. the value we assign to people can change.

Question 9

what does value tell us about the brain

Answer 9

it is incredibly elastic > changing bias and prejudice

Question 10

Goals can moderate bias response

Answer 10

• Participants are white Americans looking at African-American faces.
• Doing one of three tasks:
  1. Individuation - participants shown a vegetable before the picture of the face and asked whether they think the person likes that vegetable.

a. Amygdala response absent b. Goal has been shifted to think about the person’s preferences.Categorisation / generic goal is irrelevant / does not apply.
c. Modulates the way the brain processes the face and thus biases.
d. Changing the context can reduce bias. Sidelining bias.

2. Categorical - participants asked to guess the age of the person.
   a. Amygdala response present
3. Visual search / control condition - fixated on dots.
   b. Amygdala response present

Question 11

Human

Answer 11

• ‘Human’ emerged from the concept of ‘in-group’
• Flexible social cognition determines who is human or not, deserving of moral protection.

Question 12

Social Cognition

Answer 12

• DMN> neo-cortical dependent
• Even without stimulus brain engages in social cognition (95% of all brain wandering is thinking about others’ minds0
• pattern of activity not observed in dehumanised condition

Question 13

Stigmatised Groups (Fiske et al., 2002)

Answer 13

-Perceived as not nice + inept
- Elicit disgust + contempt
- Do not elicit the pattern of brain activity in DMN

Question 14

Basic paradigm (Harris & Fiske, 2006)

Answer 14

behaviour and fMRI results:
- no engagement of mPFC in dehumanisation condition

• not viewing as in-group/outgroup per se. Response driven by extent to which willing to consider other’s mind

EEG results:
- response super quick

Question 15

Describe ‘ A day in the life’ (Harris & Fiske, 2011)

Answer 15

Different types of verbs & adjectives used to describe people (Semin & Fiedler, 1989)
-descriptive action verbs (sit)
-interpretive action verbs (sprawl)
-mental state verbs (relax)-adjectives (lazy)

• Dehumanised perception
  -Less mental state verbs used in cases where disgust is elicited.

Question 16

Harris & Fiske (2007)

Answer 16

Procedure:
- Independent variables
- Age (categorical) task
- Vegetable (individuated) task

• 18 participants
  -10 female
  -7 non-white

Reactivating MPFC when thinking about the preferences of the person:
-Dorsal – dehumanised
-Ventral – humanised

Changing the goal works - level of processing changes to individuated from categorical

Question 17

soup kitchen intervention

Answer 17

• contact hypothesis: getting people to simply interact with homeless breaks down prejudice

Question 18

Soup Kitchen > paradigm (Kirk et al.)

Answer 18

Replicate the findings of original study (2007)
-Pre-rated by 400 people

Behavioural data:
-Split by intervention info (interaction vs video about homelessness)
-Interaction made people more willing to engage with homeless people.
-Higher enjoyability ratings for interaction over video.
-Reduced amygdala response for homeless people.
-Unlikely that a one-time interaction had long-term effects as too much learning takes place over time, unless one continues to seek out interactive opportunities.

Question 18

Sexual objectification (Eberhardt & Fiske, 2010)

Answer 18

Less engagement in social cognition response -> more dehumanisation (but effect size is larger w/ sexist men).

-Eye-tracking studies – men not looking at faces, but at women’s bodies

Question 19

Inversion effect leads to less sexualisation (Bernard et al., 2018)

Answer 19

EEG

• non sexualised bodies> increased amplitude of N170 response for inverted images
• localised to FFA > working harder to recognise face for non-sexualised to sexualised bodies

Question 20

Which brain regions drive semantic knowledge, priming, and aversive conditioning in intergroup bias, and what outcomes do they produce? (Amodio, 2019)

Answer 20

Medial & Anterior Temporal Lobes:
Store semantic knowledge and associations
Drive biased impressions, policy support, implicit stereotypes, and biased face processing

Amygdala:
Aversive conditioning to socially learned threats
Generates automatic approach/avoidance biases, nonverbal anxiety, and increased social distance

Question 21

How do the ventral and dorsal striatum contribute to the formation and reinforcement of intergroup biases?
(Amodio, 2019)

Answer 21

Ventral Striatum (Instrumental Learning):
Reinforces rewarding or aversive social actions
Predicts implicit stereotypes, evaluations, and choice biases

Dorsal Striatum (Habit Formation):
Automates well-learned biases into habitual choices and actions

Question 22

Which frontal and cingulate regions detect and regulate social bias, and how does this inform strategies to reduce prejudice and dehumanisation?
(Amodio, 2019)

Answer 22

Detection & Norm Representation:
dACC: Spots conflict between biased impulses and goals
mPFC: Encodes others’ minds and social norms
rACC: Responds to external cues for bias control
Control of Biased Responses:
Left dlPFC: Selects nonbiassed actions
Right IFG: Inhibits automatic biases

Key Conclusions:
Social categorization is instantaneous and affect‐driven
Dehumanisation reflects reduced social‐cognitive engagement
Activating egalitarian/social goals engages these control regions, thereby ameliorating both prejudice and dehumanisation

Question 23

Biopsychosocial model (Blascovich & Tomaka, 1996)

Answer 23

• basic emotion theory: emotion triggers behaviour
• constructivist theory of emotion: acknowledgement of behaviour/reaction leads to understanding interpreted in context

Biopsychosocial supports the latter

some adaptive/some maladaptive responses

Question 24

The heart

Answer 24

Ventricular contractility (VC): heart preparing to have a heartbeat. - Decrease in the pre-ejection period (until the aortic valve opens) -Cardiac output (CO): measure of blood volume -Total Peripheral Resistance (TPR): resistance in circulatory system i.e. vasoconstriction / vasodilation -Target responses to bias differ according to how these three elements are manifested.

Question 25

Threat - maladaptive

Answer 25

activate SAM and HPA axis inhibits decreases in systemic vascular resistance VC increase, no change in CO and TPR

Question 26

Challenge - adaptive

Answer 26

Activation of SAM Enhances cardiac performance VC and CO increase with TPR decrease

Question 27

Threat and challenge responses (Mendez et al., 2002)

Answer 27

Two types of discrimination: race-based (black vs white), class-based (disadvantaged vs advantaged) -White group, advantaged: Increases in VC, increase in CO, decrease in TPR -Disadvantaged group for both: Increase in VC, lower CO and TPR

Question 28

Scheepers et al. (2014)

Answer 28

-Dual identity – higher threat-challenge response -Self-complexity theory – we have multiple identities. Less likely that bias related to one of our identities has an impact as we have many other identities. complex identities act as buffer making us more resilient

Question 29

coping response

Answer 29

participants belong to either single identity or dual identity

Question 30

Responses to racism (Harrel et al., 2011)

Answer 30

propensity towards having chronic health issues in response to racism

Question 31

Potential buffers

Answer 31

Extent to which parents talk to you about race -> level of race socialisation - High race socialisation = more central to one's identity thus, more likely to have maladaptive response all independent of self-esteem

Question 32

Sexual Objectification study (Green et al., 2012)

Answer 32

- women asked to wear bikini vs tracksuit and stand in front of mirror - more likely to self-objectify if wearing bikini

Question 33

Body surveillance (Rollero & De Piccoli, 2017)

Answer 33

extent to which monitor self -self objectification -> high body surveillance. weighs on cognitive load - self-transcendence : ability to take 3rd person view of self. negative value for men (less able to look outside of self) - if women believed they had control = higher BSurv. - BMI not predictive factor for women, influences shame for men - for men self transcendence more important, increasing BSurv

Question 34

Responses to homophobia (Mink et al., 2014)

Answer 34

stressors affect appraisal of situation -> coping -> health outcomes Ppl w/ LQBTQIA+ identity live in a dominant culture where this identity not valued

Question 35

Disclosing sexual orientation (Perez- Benitez et al., 2007)

Answer 35

Measured stroke volume (SV) High concealers and high disclosers = most stressed Heather index (HTHR): measure of myocardial contractility during both pre-ejection and ejection phases of cardiac cycle - same pattern observed in HTHR and SV Most adaptive = high disclosers (happy to talk about it) that are also not necessarily advertising identity = experience less stigma > only matters because of context in which we live

Question 36

Buffers (Frost & Meyer, 2009)

Answer 36

Predict relationship problems from internalised homophobia, community affiliation, openness, depression correlation between internalised homophobia and relationship issues mediated by depression Concealment is related to other variables, just not predictive power when put into hierarchy