✕
The findings of this study implicate a brain region called the amygdala as one of the likely mediators of the 'anomalous-is-bad' stereotype.
An “anomalous-is-bad” stereotype is hypothesized to facilitate negative biases against people with facial anomalies (e.g., scars). The researchers, in a study published by the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, examined responses to anomalous faces in the brain (using a visual oddball paradigm), behavior (in economic games), and attitudes.
--At the level of the brain, the amygdala demonstrated a specific neural response to anomalous faces—sensitive to disgust and a lack of beauty but independent of responses to salience or arousal.
--At the level of behavior, people with anomalous faces were subjected to less prosociality than participants highest in socioeconomic status.
--At the level of attitudes, researchers replicated previously reported negative character evaluations made about individuals with facial anomalies, and further identified explicit biases directed against them as a group.
"We hypothesize that the left amygdala integrates face perception with moral emotions and social values to guide behavior, such that weaker emotional empathy, and a stronger belief that the world is just, both facilitate dehumanizing people with facial anomalies," said the author.
Source: https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.14575
An “anomalous-is-bad” stereotype is hypothesized to facilitate negative biases against people with facial anomalies (e.g., scars). The researchers, in a study published by the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, examined responses to anomalous faces in the brain (using a visual oddball paradigm), behavior (in economic games), and attitudes.
--At the level of the brain, the amygdala demonstrated a specific neural response to anomalous faces—sensitive to disgust and a lack of beauty but independent of responses to salience or arousal.
--At the level of behavior, people with anomalous faces were subjected to less prosociality than participants highest in socioeconomic status.
--At the level of attitudes, researchers replicated previously reported negative character evaluations made about individuals with facial anomalies, and further identified explicit biases directed against them as a group.
"We hypothesize that the left amygdala integrates face perception with moral emotions and social values to guide behavior, such that weaker emotional empathy, and a stronger belief that the world is just, both facilitate dehumanizing people with facial anomalies," said the author.
Source: https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.14575
1 / 1
Like
Comment
Share
