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The neural basis of ideological differences in race categorization
- Source :
- Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci
- Publication Year :
- 2021
- Publisher :
- The Royal Society, 2021.
-
Abstract
- Multiracial individuals are often categorized as members of their ‘socially subordinate’ racial group—a form of social discrimination termed hypodescent—with political conservatives more likely than liberals to show this bias. Although hypodescent has been linked to racial hierarchy preservation motives, it remains unclear how political ideology influences categorization: Do conservatives and liberals see, feel or think about mixed-race faces differently? Do they differ in sensitivity to Black prototypicality (i.e. skin tone darkness and Afrocentric features) or racial ambiguity (i.e. categorization difficulty) of Black/White mixed-race faces? To help answer these questions, we collected a politically diverse sample of White participants and had them categorize mixed-race faces as Black or White during functional neuroimaging. We found that conservatism was related to greater anterior insula activity to racially ambiguous faces, and this pattern of brain activation mediated conservatives' use of hypodescent. This demonstrates that conservatives' greater sensitivity to racial ambiguity (rather than Black prototypicality) gives rise to greater categorization of mixed-race individuals into the socially subordinate group and tentatively suggests that conservatives may differ from liberals in their affective reactions to mixed-race faces. Implications for the study of race categorization and political psychology are discussed. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The political brain: neurocognitive and computational mechanisms'.
- Subjects :
- Male
Political psychology
media_common.quotation_subject
New York
050109 social psychology
Conservatism
General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
Part II: Neurocognitive Systems
03 medical and health sciences
Race (biology)
Politics
Young Adult
0302 clinical medicine
Humans
0501 psychology and cognitive sciences
media_common
Motivation
05 social sciences
Brain
Ambiguity
Categorization
Social Perception
Face
Racial hierarchy
Female
Ideology
General Agricultural and Biological Sciences
Psychology
Social psychology
030217 neurology & neurosurgery
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....4a5de3f95c8b8da26d734a22f1738795