Implicit Prejudice and the Regulation of Intergroup Responses:Theoretical Contributions of the Social Neuroscience Approach

Abstract

Prejudice researchers are typically interested in two things, neither of which directly concerns the brain: the situational causes and consequences of prejudice for individuals in society, and the psychological mechanisms that drive biased perceptions and discriminatory behavior. Perhaps surprisingly, the field of intergroup relations is the domain in which social neuroscience research has been arguably the most active. This is partly due to a coincidence-many of the first social psychologists with neuroscience training happened to be interested in intergroup questions (Amodio, Harmon-Jones, & Devine, 2003; Bartholow, Pearson, Gratton, & Fabiani, 2003; Ito & Urland, 2003; Phelps et al., 2000; Vanman, Paul, Ito, & Miller, 1997). A more substantive reason, however, is that the field of intergroup relations provides one of the most fertile, multifaceted areas of research for studying the interplay of multiple psychological processes at multiple levels of analysis. And, at its core, the social neuroscience approach is interested in connections across levels of analysis. By studying intergroup processes, social neuroscientists can examine the rich interplay of neural function with cognition, emotion, and behavior as they operate within the individual, dyads, groups, and societies. Prejudice researchers who take this approach hope to probe the psychological mechanisms of intergroup bias while also elucidating brain function.