Cargando…

Morality is in the eye of the beholder: the neurocognitive basis of the “anomalous‐is‐bad” stereotype

Are people with flawed faces regarded as having flawed moral characters? An “anomalous‐is‐bad” stereotype is hypothesized to facilitate negative biases against people with facial anomalies (e.g., scars), but whether and how these biases affect behavior and brain functioning remain open questions. We...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Workman, Clifford I., Humphries, Stacey, Hartung, Franziska, Aguirre, Geoffrey K., Kable, Joseph W., Chatterjee, Anjan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8247878/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33565114
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/nyas.14575
_version_ 1783716603361230848
author Workman, Clifford I.
Humphries, Stacey
Hartung, Franziska
Aguirre, Geoffrey K.
Kable, Joseph W.
Chatterjee, Anjan
author_facet Workman, Clifford I.
Humphries, Stacey
Hartung, Franziska
Aguirre, Geoffrey K.
Kable, Joseph W.
Chatterjee, Anjan
author_sort Workman, Clifford I.
collection PubMed
description Are people with flawed faces regarded as having flawed moral characters? An “anomalous‐is‐bad” stereotype is hypothesized to facilitate negative biases against people with facial anomalies (e.g., scars), but whether and how these biases affect behavior and brain functioning remain open questions. We 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 from participants highest in socioeconomic status. At the level of attitudes, we replicated previously reported negative character evaluations made about individuals with facial anomalies, and further identified explicit biases directed against them as a group. Across these levels of organization, the specific amygdala response to facial anomalies correlated with stronger just‐world beliefs (i.e., people get what they deserve), less dispositional empathic concern, and less prosociality toward people with facial anomalies. Characterizing the “anomalous‐is‐bad” stereotype at multiple levels of organization can reveal underappreciated psychological burdens shouldered by people who look different.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8247878
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher John Wiley and Sons Inc.
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-82478782021-07-02 Morality is in the eye of the beholder: the neurocognitive basis of the “anomalous‐is‐bad” stereotype Workman, Clifford I. Humphries, Stacey Hartung, Franziska Aguirre, Geoffrey K. Kable, Joseph W. Chatterjee, Anjan Ann N Y Acad Sci Original Articles Are people with flawed faces regarded as having flawed moral characters? An “anomalous‐is‐bad” stereotype is hypothesized to facilitate negative biases against people with facial anomalies (e.g., scars), but whether and how these biases affect behavior and brain functioning remain open questions. We 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 from participants highest in socioeconomic status. At the level of attitudes, we replicated previously reported negative character evaluations made about individuals with facial anomalies, and further identified explicit biases directed against them as a group. Across these levels of organization, the specific amygdala response to facial anomalies correlated with stronger just‐world beliefs (i.e., people get what they deserve), less dispositional empathic concern, and less prosociality toward people with facial anomalies. Characterizing the “anomalous‐is‐bad” stereotype at multiple levels of organization can reveal underappreciated psychological burdens shouldered by people who look different. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2021-02-09 2021-06 /pmc/articles/PMC8247878/ /pubmed/33565114 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/nyas.14575 Text en © 2021 The Authors. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of New York Academy of Sciences https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an open access article under the terms of the http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes.
spellingShingle Original Articles
Workman, Clifford I.
Humphries, Stacey
Hartung, Franziska
Aguirre, Geoffrey K.
Kable, Joseph W.
Chatterjee, Anjan
Morality is in the eye of the beholder: the neurocognitive basis of the “anomalous‐is‐bad” stereotype
title Morality is in the eye of the beholder: the neurocognitive basis of the “anomalous‐is‐bad” stereotype
title_full Morality is in the eye of the beholder: the neurocognitive basis of the “anomalous‐is‐bad” stereotype
title_fullStr Morality is in the eye of the beholder: the neurocognitive basis of the “anomalous‐is‐bad” stereotype
title_full_unstemmed Morality is in the eye of the beholder: the neurocognitive basis of the “anomalous‐is‐bad” stereotype
title_short Morality is in the eye of the beholder: the neurocognitive basis of the “anomalous‐is‐bad” stereotype
title_sort morality is in the eye of the beholder: the neurocognitive basis of the “anomalous‐is‐bad” stereotype
topic Original Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8247878/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33565114
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/nyas.14575
work_keys_str_mv AT workmancliffordi moralityisintheeyeofthebeholdertheneurocognitivebasisoftheanomalousisbadstereotype
AT humphriesstacey moralityisintheeyeofthebeholdertheneurocognitivebasisoftheanomalousisbadstereotype
AT hartungfranziska moralityisintheeyeofthebeholdertheneurocognitivebasisoftheanomalousisbadstereotype
AT aguirregeoffreyk moralityisintheeyeofthebeholdertheneurocognitivebasisoftheanomalousisbadstereotype
AT kablejosephw moralityisintheeyeofthebeholdertheneurocognitivebasisoftheanomalousisbadstereotype
AT chatterjeeanjan moralityisintheeyeofthebeholdertheneurocognitivebasisoftheanomalousisbadstereotype