Neuroscience of Prejudice and Intergroup Relations

Psychological research on the origins and consequences of prejudice, discrimination, and stereotyping has moved into previously uncharted directions through the introduction of neuroscientific measures. Psychologists can now address issues that are difficult to examine with traditional methodologies and monitor motivational and emotional as they develop during ongoing intergroup interactions, thus enabling the empirical investigation of the fundamental biological bases of prejudice. However, several very promising strands of research have largely developed independently of each other. By bringing together the work of leading prejudice researchers from across the world who have begun to study this field with different neuroscientific tools, this volume provides the first integrated view on the specific drawbacks and benefits of each type of measure, illuminates how standard paradigms in research on prejudice and intergroup relations can be adapted for the use of neuroscientific methods, and illustrates how different methodologies can complement each other and be combined to advance current insights into the nature of prejudice. This cutting-edge volume will be of interest to advanced undergraduates, graduates, and researchers students who study prejudice, intergroup relations, and social neuroscience.

Table of Contents:
Introduction and Overview. Part 1: Social Categorization: Responding to Others as Us vs. Them. T. Ito, The Neural Correlates of Social Categorization. B. Derks, Social Identity and Automatic Social Categorization. M. Zárate, Cerebral Hemispheric Asymmetries in Social Perception: Perceiving People as Individuals or Group Members. Part 2: From Identification to Intergroup Behavior. D. Scheepers, Social Identity Based Challenge and Threat. C. de Dreu, Oxytocin Promotes Intergroup Competition. S. Fiske, Social Neuroscience Evidence for Dehumanized Perception. Part 3: From Prejudice to Control. D. Amodio, Neural Mechanisms Underlying Prejudice Control. J. Richeson, How Interracial Interactions Deplete Attentional Resources. B. Bartholow, Stereotype Activation and Control of Race Bias: Cognitive Control of Inhibition and its Impairment by Alcohol. Part 4: The Target’s Perspective: Physiological Responses to Stigma. J. Blascovich, Challenge and Threat in Response to Stigma. B. Major, Worldview Disconfirmation is Stressful: Threat vs. Challenge in Response to Low Status. M. Inzlicht, Stigma Impairs the Neural Mechanisms Underlying Self-control. Part 5: Improving Inter-group Relations. W. Berry Mendes, Neuro-endocrine Stress Responses during Inter-group Interactions. N. Ellemers, Moral Accountability and Control of Implicit Prejudice. R. Mendoza-Denton, How Cross-racial Friendships Reduce Interracial Anxiety.

About the Author :
Belle Derks is Assistant Professor in Social and Organizational Psychology at Leiden University, the Netherlands. She has published research articles and book chapters on the psychological, behavioral, and neural correlates of stigma and social identity threat. She has served as editor of the Dutch Yearbook of Social Psychology. Daan Scheepers is Assistant Professor in Social and Organizational Psychology at Leiden University, the Netherlands. He has published several research articles on group processes and intergroup relations, with a focus on the physiological and psychological correlates of social identity threat. He is consulting editor of the European Journal of Social Psychology and has co-edited a special issue of Group Processes & Intergroup Relations. Naomi Ellemers is Professor in Social and Organizational Psychology at Leiden University, the Netherlands. She has published extensively on prejudice and intergroup relations, and recently won a Spinoza award from the Dutch National Science Foundation (NWO) for her research on the use of neuroscientific methods in intergroup research. She has served as editor of the Dutch Journal of Psychology and the Dutch Yearbook of Social Psychology, was associate editor of the British Journal of Social Psychology and the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, co-edited a special issue of the Journal of Social Issues, and is a member of the editorial board of the Annual Review of Psychology. She has co-edited books on stereotyping (1997), social identity (1999), and identity in organizations (2003).

Review :
"The Neuroscience of Prejudice and Intergroup Relations presents cutting-edge research by leading international scholars. The volume is accessible to students and scholars both in intergroup relations and in neuroscience, but more importantly demonstrates to both groups the unique value and novel insights that can be derived from an integrative analysis. It sets a scholarly agenda in this area for many years to come." -- John F. Dovidio, Ph.D., Yale University "Social neuroscience attempts to bring together social psychology's two essential elements: the mind 'in here' and the world 'out there'. Doing this properly — especially when tackling the gritty realities of prejudice and conflict — is no easy task for it is fraught with dangers of both method and theory. Happily, though, this book brings together the world's leading researchers in the field, and, collectively, they do a magnificent job of recognising and overcoming these challenges. Especially noteworthy are the candid insights that the book provides into the complexities of this task, as experienced by front-line researchers 'on the ground'. The result is a landmark book that will define and illuminate the field for decades to come." -- Alex Haslam, Ph.D., University of Queensland, Australia "The search for the antecedents and consequences of prejudice, discrimination, and stereotyping has been one of the most important in social psychology for more than six decades. This book represents an important step forward in this historical pursuit and underscores how social neuroscience is shedding new light on age-old questions and problems." -- John T. Cacioppo, Ph.D., The University of Chicago