Individual differences in the regulation of intergroup bias: the role of conflict monitoring and neural signals for control.
Low-prejudice people vary considerably in their ability to regulate intergroup responses. The authors hypothesized that this variability arises from a neural mechanism for monitoring conflict between automatic race-biased tendencies and egalitarian intentions. In Study 1, they found that low-prejudice participants whose nonprejudiced responses are motivated by internal (but not external) factors exhibited better control on a stereotype-inhibition task than did participants motivated by a combination of internal and external factors. This difference was associated with greater conflict-monitoring activity, measured by event-related potentials, when responses required stereotype inhibition. Study 2 demonstrated that group differences were specific to response control in the domain of prejudice. Results indicate that conflict monitoring, a preconscious component of response control, accounts for variability in intergroup bias among low-prejudice participants.
Amodio
David M
DM
Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, NY 10003, USA. david.amodio@nyu.edu
Devine
Patricia G
PG
Harmon-Jones
Eddie
E
D001741:Black or African American; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003071:Cognition; D003220:Conflict, Psychological; D005071:Evoked Potentials; D005260:Female; D006126:Group Processes; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009042:Motivation; D009484:Neuropsychology; D011287:Prejudice; D014481:United States; D044465:White People