Automatic stereotyping
Most of us sincerely believe that we aren’t prejudiced, Psychologists have studied automatic stereotyping — the fact that just having knowledge of a stereotype automatically triggers prejudiced thoughts and behaviors when we see a person from a stereotyped group. They suggest that these stereotypes have become so well learned that they have become unconscious. However, on the hopeful side, some researchers believe that conscious cognitive effort to inhibit stereotypes may eventually result in truly changed attitudes, particularly among people who are genuinely low in prejudice and motivated to change their reactions.
Scientists think that the automatic activation of a stereotype is immediately followed by a conscious check on unacceptable thoughts—at least in people who think that they are not prejudiced. This internal censor successfully restrains overtly biased responses. But there’s still the danger of leakage, which often shows up in non-verbal behavior: our expressions, our stance, how far away we stand, how much eye contact we make.
Automatic-stereotype researchers often refer to the unconscious as the source of prejudice, they don’t mean the Freudian notion of a seething mass of thoughts and desires, only some of which are deemed presentable enough to be admitted to the conscious mind. In fact, the cognitive model holds that information flows in exactly the opposite direction: connections made often enough in the conscious mind eventually become unconscious.
Much of what enters our consciousness, of course, comes from the culture around us. And like the culture, it seems that our minds are split on the subjects of race, gender, class, sexual orientation. “We not only mirror the ambivalence we see in society, but also mirror it in precisely the same way,” says Dovidio. Our society talks out loud about justice, equality, and egalitarianism, and most Americans accept these values as their own. At the same time, such equality exists only as an ideal, and that fact is not lost on our unconscious.
Some stereotype researchers think that the solution to automatic stereotyping lies in the process itself. Through practice, they say, people can weaken the mental links that connect negative stereotypes and strengthen the ones that connect them to positive conscious beliefs.
That slight pause in the processing of a stereotype gives conscious, unprejudiced beliefs a chance to take over. With time, the tendency to prevent automatic stereotyping may itself become automatic. Monteith’s research suggests that, given enough motivation, people may be able to teach themselves to inhibit prejudice so well that even their tests of implicit bias come clean.
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Neuroscience of prejudice
Amygdala activity is frequently observed in individuals while they view members of racial outgroups, but it has also been found in response to viewing members of one’s own group independently of race47. This mixed finding may reflect the different functions of nuclei within the amygdala. The figure depicts three amygdala nuclei that probably contribute to these two forms of prejudice: sensory inputs enter via the lateral nucleus of the amygdala (LA) and, depending on the context and nature of the stimuli, this signal is directed to the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA), which supports a threat response, or to the basal nucleus of the amygdala (BA), which supports an instrumental response18. Because of the inhibitory nature of within-amygdala projections, activating signals involve connections through intercalated masses (ITCs). PAG, periaqueductal grey; PFC, prefrontal cortex; SNS, sympathetic nervous system.
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