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The neuroscience of stereotyping
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Social motivations, such as the desire to affiliate or com-
pete with others, rank among the most potent of human
drives 1. Not surprisingly, the capacity to discern ‘us’ from
‘them’ is fundamental in the human brain. Although this
computation takes just a fraction of a second 2 , 3 , it sets the
stage for social categorization, stereotypes, prejudices, inter-
group conflict and inequality, and, at the extremes, war
and genocide. Thus, although prejudice stems from a
mechanism of survival, built on cognitive systems that
‘structure’ the physical world, its function in modern
society is complex and its effects are often deleterious.
For the neuroscientist, the domain of prejudice pro-
vides a unique context for examining neural mechanisms
of the human mind that guide complex behaviour. Social
prejudices are scaffolded by basic-level neurocognitive
structures, but their expression is guided by personal
goals and normative expectations, played out in dyadic
and intergroup settings; this is truly the human brain
in vivo. Although probing the neural basis of prejudice
is a challenging endeavour — in which the rigours of
reductionism are balanced with the richness of context
— it offers neuroscientists the opportunity to connect
their knowledge to some of society’s most pressing prob-
lems, such as discrimination, intergroup conflict and
disparities in health and socioeconomic status.
In this article, I review research on the role of the brain
in social prejudice and stereotyping. The term prejudice is
used broadly to refer to preconceptions — often negative
— about groups or individuals based on their social, racial
or ethnic affiliations 4. Within the field of social psychol-
ogy, prejudice refers more specifically to evaluations (that
is, attitudes) and emotional responses towards a group and
its members. Stereotypes, by comparison, are generalized
characteristics ascribed to a social group, such as personal
traits (for example, unintelligent) or circumstantial attrib-
utes (for example, poor) 5. Although they are distinguish-
able by content and process, prejudices and stereotypes
often operate in combination to influence social behav-
iour 6. Moreover, both forms of bias can operate implicitly,
such that they may be activated and influence judgements
and behaviours without conscious awareness 7 –9.
Despite the persistence of prejudices and stereotypes
in contemporary society, their effects on behaviour are
often countered by people’s egalitarian personal beliefs
and pro-social norms 7. Guided by these beliefs and
norms, people frequently engage self-regulatory pro-
cesses to mitigate the effects of bias on their behaviour.
Hence, a theoretical analysis of prejudice and stereo-
typing is incomplete without a consideration of these
regulatory processes. Here, self-regulation refers to
the process of acting in an intentional manner, often
through mechanisms of cognitive control.
The neuroscientific research conducted on prejudice
and stereotyping over the past decade suggests that these
complex forms of human behaviour involve different
interacting networks of neural structures. In this article, I
describe the functions of key structures in each network,
including both their broader neurocognitive functions
and their specific roles in prejudice and stereotyping.
This article extends previous reviews on this topic —
which were guided by a social psychological analysis 10
or emphasized a particular neuroimaging method 11 , 12 —
by providing a comprehensive overview of the literature
from a neural-systems perspective. Although many of
the conclusions drawn from this emerging literature rely
heavily on reverse inference from neuroimaging data,
Social motivations
Motives that operate in social
contexts and satisfy basic,
often universal, goals and
aspirations, such as to affiliate
(for example, form relationships
and communities) or to achieve
dominance (for example, within
a social hierarchy).
Stereotypes
Conceptual attributes
associated with a group and its
members (often through over-
generalization), which may
refer to trait or circumstantial
characteristics.
Prejudices
Evaluations of or affective
responses towards a social
group and its members based
on preconceptions.
The neuroscience of prejudice and
stereotyping
David M. Amodio
Abstract | Despite global increases in diversity, social prejudices continue to fuel intergroup
conflict, disparities and discrimination. Moreover, as norms have become more egalitarian,
prejudices seem to have ‘gone underground’, operating covertly and often unconsciously,
such that they are difficult to detect and control. Neuroscientists have recently begun to
probe the neural basis of prejudice and stereotyping in an effort to identify the processes
through which these biases form, influence behaviour and are regulated. This research aims
to elucidate basic mechanisms of the social brain while advancing our understanding of
intergroup bias in social behaviour.
New York University,
Department of Psychology,
6 Washington Place,
New York, New York 10003,
USA.
e-mail: david@nyu.
edu
doi:10/nrn
Published online
4 September 2014
670 | O CTOBER 2014 | VOLUME 15 nature/reviews/neuro
Nature Reviews | Neuroscience
a
0
–7.
L R
Amplitude (μV)
4
2
0
–
–
–
–200 0 200 400
Time (ms)
Ingroup
Outgroup
Face onset N
b
μV
Self-regulation
The process of responding in
an intentional manner, often
involving the inhibition or
overriding of an alternative
response tendency.
these inferences are strengthened by converging theory
and behavioural data from the extensive psychological
literature on intergroup bias and self-regulation 13 , 14.
The majority of the research reviewed here concerns
racial prejudice — a form of prejudice with clearly defined
social categories linked to identifiable physical attrib-
utes (BOX 1). In particular, prejudice of white Americans
towards black people (that is, individuals of African or
Caribbean descent) has deep historical roots and contem-
porary relevance to social issues, and the majority of stud-
ies have examined prejudice in this context. Nevertheless,
many findings in this literature concern basic mechanisms
of social cognition that, to varying extents, underlie other
forms of bias, such as those based on ethnicity, gender,
sexual preference and nationality.
Neural basis of prejudice
In the modern social psychology literature, prejudice
is defined as an attitude towards a person on the basis
of his or her group membership. Prejudice may reflect
preference towards ingroup members or dislike of out-
group members, and it is typically imbued with affect,
with emotions ranging from love and pride to fear, dis-
gust and hatred 15 , 16. Consequently, research on the neu-
ral basis of prejudice has primarily focused on neural
structures involved in emotion and motivation, such as
the amygdala, insula, striatum and regions of orbital and
ventromedial frontal cortices (FIG. 1). Although they are
often examined independently, these structures appear
to form a core network for the experience and expression
of prejudice.
Amygdala. Research on the neural basis of prejudice
has most frequently examined the amygdala, a complex
subcortical structure located bilaterally in the medial
temporal lobes (FIG. 1). Although the amygdala is some-
times described as a neural locus of emotion (for exam-
ple, fear), it in fact comprises approximately 13 distinct
nuclei that, in conjunction, perform multiple functions
to support adaptive behaviour 17 (FIG. 2).
The amygdala receives direct (or nearly direct) affer-
ents from all sensory organs into its lateral nucleus, ena-
bling it to respond very rapidly to immediate threats in
advance of more elaborative processing of a stimulus 18.
Within the amygdala, the central nucleus (CeA) has
been implicated in Pavlovian (classical) fear condition-
ing in both rats and humans19–22, and signals emerging
from the CeA activate hypothalamic and brainstem
structures to induce arousal, attention, freezing and
preparation for fight or flight — a response that is often
characterized as ‘fear’. By comparison, output from the
basal nucleus guides appetitive and instrumental responses
via projections to the ventral striatum 22 , 23. Both the fear-
related and appetitive functions of the amygdala involve
motivation and attention, but to different ends, and they
probably correspond to different aspects of a prejudice-
based response. In humans, the amygdala is integral
to the processing of fear in facial expressions as well as
other salient social cues 24. Given the amygdala’s ability
to respond rapidly to potential social threat, researchers
interested in the neural substrate of implicit prejudice
first looked to this brain structure.
A pair of early functional MRI (fMRI) studies exam-
ined the amygdala activity of white research subjects in
response to blocked presentations of black and white
faces 25 , 26. Although neither study found that amygdala
activity to faces varied significantly as a function of ‘race’,
their results were suggestive: one study showed that the
relative difference in subjects’ amygdala activity to black
versus white faces was correlated with a behavioural
indicator of implicit prejudice (BOX 2) and with rela-
tive differences in the startle eyeblink response to black
Box 1 | Seeing race: the role of visual perception
Social interactions often begin with the perception of a face. Mounting evidence reveals
that social motivations can alter the way a face is seen, which presumably reflects the
modulatory influences of signals from the temporal cortex, prefrontal cortex and
amygdala to the fusiform gyrus 148. This insight suggests that prejudices and stereotypes
may alter early face processing.
Early functional MRI (fMRI) research demonstrated greater fusiform activity (see the
figure, panel a) in response to faces of one’s own racial group (that is, the ingroup) — an
effect that was associated with better recognition of ingroup faces than outgroup faces 50.
Research examining the N170 component of the event-related potential (ERP), which
indexes the degree of initial configural face encoding at just ~170 ms, revealed enhanced
processing of ingroup versus outgroup faces (see the figure, panel b), even when groups
were defined arbitrarily 3. This finding is consistent with fMRI data showing that faces of
‘coalition members’ elicited greater activity in the fusiform gyrus than did other faces,
regardless of race 149. Hence, social group membership, even when defined on the basis of
minimal categories, promotes greater visual encoding. These findings dovetail with
behavioural research showing that biased visual representations of outgroup members
facilitate discriminatory actions towards them 150 , 151.
In the context of race, outgroup members are often viewed as threatening and
therefore may elicit vigilant attention. Indeed, larger N170 ERP amplitudes in response to
viewing black versus white faces (equated in luminance) have been observed in subjects
with stronger implicit prejudice 152 and in subjects who were made to feel anxious about
appearing biased 42. These and other findings suggest that the visual processing of race is
malleable and depends on social motivations and contexts153–158.
Neural representations of race (black versus white), as determined by multivoxel
pattern analysis (MVPA), have been observed in the fusiform gyrus, and these neural
representations have been associated with behavioural indices of implicit prejudice
and stereotyping 49 , 52 , 159 , 160. It is notable that MVPA has also identified race
representation in the medial occipital cortex; however, because full-colour photos
were used in these studies, the effect may reflect differences in luminance associated
with skin tone rather than the race of the people depicted. Nevertheless, the broader
body of findings suggests that social category cues modulate the early visual
processing of ingroup and outgroup members’ faces in ways that support the
perceivers’ biased or egalitarian social goals.
Panel a of the figure is from REF. 50 , Nature Publishing Group. Panel b of the figure is
reprinted from J. Exp. Soc. Psychol., 49 , Ratner, K. G. & Amodio, D. M., Seeing “us versus
them”: minimal group effects on the neural encoding of faces, 298–301, Copyright (2013),
with permission from Elsevier.
NATURE REVIEWS | NEUROSCIENCE VOLUME 15 | O CTOBER 2014 | 671
Nature Reviews | Neuroscience
LA
BA
CeA
ITC
Sensory input
- Visual
- Auditory
- Somatosensory
- Olfactory
- Gustatory
Ventral striatum
(instrumental actions)
Hypothalamus and
brainstem (SNS, hormones)
Neuromodulatory systems
(arousal)
PFC (regulation)
PAG (freezing)
Implicit bias
Prejudiced or
stereotype-based perceptions
or responses that operate
without conscious awareness.
Deliberative judgements
Judgements that result from
thoughtful considerations
(often involving cognitive
control) as opposed to rapid,
gut-level, ‘snap’ judgements.
goal-directed behaviour. Together, these findings iden-
tify the amygdala as a major substrate of different forms
of implicit prejudice. However, it is important to note
that behavioural expressions of bias, such as in social
interactions or on a laboratory task (for example, the
implicit association test (IAT)), may reflect other pro-
cesses — such as conceptual associations, intentions and
cognitive control — in addition to an amygdala-based
response 57. As the contributions of different amyg-
dala nuclei become better understood, and with more
refined behavioural assessments of implicit bias, the role
of the amygdala in prejudice and other social processes
will become increasingly clear.
Orbital frontal cortex. The orbital frontal cortex (OFC)
(FIG. 1), which is often considered to include the inferior
ventral medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), is associated
with the processing of affective cues, contingency-based
learning, evaluation and decision making58–60. In the social
domain, the OFC supports the monitoring of social cues
and subsequent adjustment of one’s behaviour 61. This
function is crucial in intergroup situations involving
social norms, in which responses may be influenced by
others’ expectations 62. Moreover, the OFC is anatomi-
cally interconnected with brain regions involved in all
sensory modalities and with structures that are known
to represent emotional and reward processes (such as
the basal nuclei of the amygdala and striatum) and social
knowledge (such as the medial frontal cortex and tempo-
ral poles) 63. In comparison with the amygdala, the OFC
seems to support more complex and flexible evaluative
representations that are more directly applicable to the
intricacies of social behaviour.
To date, relatively few studies have examined the role
of the OFC in prejudice, most likely because the field
has primarily focused on comparatively basic responses
to racial group members (for example, through passive
viewing) rather than the kind of complex evaluative
processes that are known to involve the OFC. However,
findings from these studies are generally consistent
with the OFC’s proposed role in complex evaluations of
people based on group membership, beyond its poten-
tial role in implicit racial attitudes 64. For example, OFC
activity has been associated with subjects’ deliberative
judgements regarding the prospect of befriending black,
relative to white, individuals 49 (FIG. 3). OFC activity has
also been associated with subjects’ preference for mem-
bers of their own team independently of race, indicating
that the OFC may have a broader role in group-based
evaluation 47. Given its role in the regulation of social
behaviour 61 , the OFC is likely to emerge as an impor-
tant substrate of more elaborated forms of intergroup
evaluation.
Insula. The insula (FIG. 1a) is a large cortical region
that runs medial to the temporal lobes, adjacent to
the frontal cortex, and broadly functions to represent
somatosensory states (including visceral responses)
and emotions related to such states (such as disgust) 65.
Posterior insula regions are thought to provide primary
representation of interoceptive signals, whereas ante-
rior regions support the cognitive re-representation
of these signals. This re-representation in the anterior
insula provides an interface with the anterior cingulate
cortex (ACC) and PFC, which are involved in subjec-
tive awareness of emotion and cognitive control 66. It
is the anterior insula, rather than the posterior insula,
that is most frequently associated with aspects of social
cognition and social emotion.
Although the insula is rarely of focal interest in neu-
roimaging studies of prejudice, its activity is frequently
associated with responses to racial outgroup versus
ingroup members in experimental tasks 33 , 45 , 48. This find-
ing has been interpreted as reflecting a negative visceral
reaction, such as disgust, to racial outgroups 67 , and it has
been specifically associated with white subjects’ implicit
negative attitudes towards black people 51 , 64. Thus, the
insula seems to contribute to the subjective affect that
is often experienced as part of a prejudiced response. It
could be speculated that the representation of this affec-
tive response in the anterior insula may — through its
connections with the ACC and PFC — facilitate the abil-
ity to detect and regulate one’s behaviour on the basis of
a prejudicial affective response.
It is notable that the insula is also implicated in pro-
social emotions, such as empathy, towards liked indi-
viduals68–70. For example, insula activity was found to
increase when subjects viewed another person being
exposed to a painful stimulus, but only if that person
was of the same racial group 71. Similarly, another study
observed insula activity when members of liked, but not
disliked, outgroups were harmed 67. Both findings sug-
gest that empathy-related activity in the insula depends
on the victim’s social affiliation. In an interesting twist,
Figure 2 | The amygdala and its role in 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 race 47. 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 response 18. 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.
NATURE REVIEWS | NEUROSCIENCE VOLUME 15 | O CTOBER 2014 | 673
Nature Reviews | Neuroscience
600 ms
600 ms 600 ms
600 ms
a
+ Happy + Awful
b
c ‘Compatible’ block ‘Incompatible’ block
Time Time
+ +
Black or
negative
White or
positive
Black or
positive
White or
Happy negative
Black or
negative
White or
positive Awful
Black or
positive
White or
negative
1 s 1 s
1 s 1 s
Fixation Prime Target
200 ms
200 ms
200 ms
200 ms
Response Fixation Prime Target Response
200 ms
200 ms
200 ms
200 ms
‘Pleasant’ or
‘unpleasant’?
‘Pleasant’ or
‘unpleasant’?
‘Gun’ or ‘tool’? ‘Gun’ or ‘tool’?
insula activity has also been observed when a disliked
outgroup member is rewarded — a case of outgroup envy
— and the degree of this activation predicted subjects’
intention to harm that individual 72. Although our under-
standing of insula function in social contexts is still devel-
oping, these findings highlight a role of visceral responses
to other people that has been largely overlooked in past
social-cognition research but that may nonetheless be
crucial for guiding intergroup social behaviour.
Striatum. The striatum is a component of the basal gan-
glia that comprises the caudate nucleus and putamen
(FIG. 1). This structure is broadly involved in instrumental
learning and reward processes, including the coordina-
tion of goal-directed and habit-based responses through
bidirectional connections with the PFC (via the caudate
nucleus) and with motor areas (via the putamen), respec-
tively 73. Findings from functional neuroimaging research
on economic bargaining and reinforcement learning sug-
gest that striatal activation is associated with the compu-
tation of value (that is, value placed on a potential action)
and anticipated outcomes 74 , 75.
Consistent with a role of the striatum in reward pro-
cessing, fMRI studies of social perception have revealed
increased striatal activity in response to viewing pic-
tures of ingroup versus outgroup members 47. In a study
in which white subjects completed an IAT that assessed
preferences for black versus white individuals, caudate
activity was stronger when subjects viewed white faces
compared with black faces, and this difference was asso-
ciated with an implicit preference for white ingroup
members 64. In an economic bargaining game, the degree
of trust shown by white subjects towards a black part-
ner was associated with striatal activity 76. These initial
findings suggest that the striatum has a role in guiding
positive intergroup interactions through instrumental
and approach-related responses.
Medial prefrontal cortex. The medial frontal cortex —
which encompasses Brodmann area 8 (BA8), BA9 and
BA10 along the medial wall of the frontal cortex, superior
and anterior to the ACC — has emerged as a particularly
important structure for the processing of social informa-
tion 62 , 77 –79. This highly associative region has prominent
Box 2 | Measuring implicit prejudice and stereotyping
Unlike explicit racial beliefs, implicit attitudes and stereotypes reflect
associations in the mind that operate without conscious awareness 9.
Implicit attitudes associated with race are formed through direct
or indirect exposure to members of these racial groups in negative
(or sometimes positive) contexts. Such implicit racial associations
are typically assessed using computerized priming tasks; the
priming effect is considered to be ‘implicit’ because subjects may be
unaware that they possess racial associations or may be otherwise
unaware of how their racial associations affect their task responses.
Racial bias assessed by implicit measures such as these has been
shown to predict a wide range of behavioural forms of
discrimination 161.
In an example of a sequential priming task, subjects view and classify
target words as either ‘pleasant’ or ‘unpleasant’ (see the figure, part a).
Each target word is preceded by a prime stimulus that represents a social
category: for example, white and black faces. Implicit prejudices are
revealed in task performance: among white Americans, negative (versus
positive) words are often classified more quickly following black faces
than following white faces 8.
A variant used to assess implicit stereotype associations is the weapons
identification task, in which white and black face stimuli (primes) are
followed by images of handguns and handtools 162 (see the figure, part b).
Black primes typically facilitate the categorization of guns and interfere
with the categorization of tools, reflecting the stereotype of black
Americans as dangerous. Because this task creates stereotype-based
interference (on black-face prime–tool trials), it is also used to elicit and
index the cognitive control of stereotyping.
In the implicit association test (IAT), subjects view a series of stimuli, such
as white and black faces and positive and negative words 163 (see the figure,
part c). During ‘compatible’ trials, white faces and positive words are
categorized using one key, whereas black faces and negative words are
categorized with a different key. During ‘incompatible’ trials, categories
are rearranged: white faces and negative words are categorized with one
key, and black faces and positive words with the other key. A tendency to
respond more quickly on compatible than incompatible blocks is taken to
indicate an anti-black and/or pro-white attitude. The IAT effect represents
the difference in average response latency between these two trial blocks,
with higher scores indicating stronger implicit prejudice.
674 | O CTOBER 2014 | VOLUME 15 nature/reviews/neuro
Nature Reviews | Neuroscience
Dorsal mPFC
Impression formation
IFG
Stereotype activation
ATL
Social knowledge
Lateral temporal lobe
Semantic and episodic memory
underpin semantic knowledge 10 ,85–89 (FIG. 4). In particu-
lar, the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) is associated with
the representation of social knowledge, such as attributes
that describe people but not inanimate objects 84 , 90 , 91. The
dorsal part of the ATL, which is implicated more spe-
cifically in the representation of social objects (that is,
people), is densely interconnected with the regions of
the mPFC that are associated with trait judgement and
impression formation 92. This suggests that social infor-
mation represented in the ATL is selected into the mPFC
to support the process of social cognition.
Not surprisingly, the ATL is frequently implicated
in studies of stereotype representation. In one fMRI
study examining the neural basis of stereotyping, sub-
jects considered either social or non-social categories
(for example, men versus women or violins versus
guitars) and judged which category was more likely to
be characterized by a particular feature (for example,
enjoys romantic comedies or has six strings). A contrast
of brain activity between social and non-social condi-
tions revealed that ATL activity was uniquely activated
during stereotype-relevant judgements of social catego-
ries 93. A different fMRI study used multivoxel pattern
analysis (MVPA) to examine neural activity represent-
ing judgements of black and white individuals on the
basis of stereotype traits (athleticism) versus evaluations
(potential for friendship) 49. Results showed that when
subjects made trait judgements, a behavioural index of
implicit stereotyping correlated with ATL activity, and
when they made evaluative judgements, a behavioural
index of implicit racial attitudes correlated with activity
in the same part of the ATL. Consistent with these find-
ings, the disruption of ATL activity by transcranial mag-
netic stimulation attenuated the behavioural expression
of implicit gender stereotype associations 94 , suggesting
that the ATL is necessary for stereotype representation.
Thus, knowledge of social stereotypes appears to reside
in the ATL.
Medial prefrontal cortex. As discussed above, the mPFC
is consistently involved in the representation of an indi-
vidual’s traits, preferences and mental states during
impression formation 77 , 80. Although relevant to aspects
of prejudice, the mPFC is more directly involved in
stereotyping.
To date, the neural substrates of stereotyping have
mainly been examined within the domains of gender
and political orientation. These studies have linked
mPFC activity, typically in dorsal regions, with the acti-
vation of gender-related and political concepts during
behavioural tasks such as the IAT 51 , 89 ,95–98. The mPFC
has been implicated in the domain of racial stereotyping
as well, during tasks that require subjects to infer per-
sonal traits of individuals from racial minority groups
(for example, African Americans) 35. In an fMRI study
designed to distinguish the neural representation of ste-
reotype-based judgements of black versus white people
from judgements based on affective responses, MVPA
results identified the rostral dorsal mPFC as the only
region representing stereotype judgements 49.
Although the mPFC has been linked to stereotyping,
its precise role in this process remains a point of inquiry.
Some authors have conceptualized the anterior mPFC
as a repository of social knowledge 79 , 99 or as a region
that integrates information about social knowledge
with goals in order to coordinate social behaviour 49 , 62 , 93.
Researchers are beginning to investigate these alternative
functions 100 , 101. Nevertheless, in either case, the mPFC
seems to be centrally involved in the stereotype-based
processing of people.
It is notable that the mPFC is often considered to
function as part of a social-cognition (or mentalizing)
network, together with the temporoparietal junction,
superior temporal sulcus, precuneus and ATL 78 , 102 – 104. As
discussed, the mPFC and ATL have been directly linked
to social stereotyping processes, whereas the other
regions seem to be primarily associated with theory-
of-mind processing, action understanding and self-
consciousness — processes that are less directly relevant
to stereotyping and prejudice. Hence, the set of regions
involved in functional networks proposed for one psy-
chological function (for example, making mental state
inferences) may not cohere in the context of another
(for example, stereotyping) despite the fact that both
functions represent aspects of social cognition. In this
case, an involvement of the mPFC in stereotyping does
not necessarily implicate other components of networks
associated with mentalizing and social cognition.
Lateral prefrontal cortex. The lateral PFC — more spe-
cifically, the regions often referred to as the IFG (FIG. 4)
(BA44, BA45 and BA47) — is associated with the selec-
tion of concepts into working memory to support goal-
directed action 87 , 105 – 109. William James famously observed
that ‘thinking is for doing’, and the left IFG, in particular,
reflects this notion: strong reciprocal connections of the
Figure 4 | Stereotyping network. Neural structures that
underlie components of intergroup stereotyping. Semantic
information stored in the lateral temporal lobe —
especially representations of stereotype-related
knowledge about people and social groups in the anterior
temporal lobe (ATL) — is recruited into the dorsal medial
prefrontal cortex (mPFC) to support the formation of
impressions (that is, stereotypes) and, in conjunction, into
the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) to support goal-directed
actions that are guided by these stereotypes.
676 | O CTOBER 2014 | VOLUME 15 nature/reviews/neuro
Event-related potential
(ERP). An electrical signal
produced by summated
postsynaptic potentials of
cortical neurons in response to
a discrete event, such as a
stimulus or a response in an
experimental task. Typically
recorded from the scalp in
humans, ERPs can be
measured with extremely high
temporal resolution and can be
used to track rapid, real-time
changes in neural activity.
lateral PFC with the basal ganglia and motor cortex sup-
port the coordination of complex actions that are guided
by working memory and high-level cognition 73 , 110.
Stereotypes are a form of social cognition that guide
behaviour, and indeed the process of applying stereo-
types in judgement and behaviour has been shown to
specifically involve activity in the IFG 111.
Whereas the retrieval of conceptual knowledge typi-
cally involves the left IFG, activity in the right IFG has
been observed in research subjects who were judging
whether gender-stereotyped traits applied to a series of
male and female individuals (as compared with traits that
were unrelated to gender stereotypes) 111. Given other evi-
dence that the right IFG has a role in domain-general
response inhibition 112 , it is possible that activation of
the right IFG during stereotype judgement tasks reflects
an individual’s efforts to inhibit the influence of stereo-
types on behaviour. This pattern of lateralized function
— stereotype retrieval and implementation on the left
and response inhibition on the right — suggests a useful
distinction in the processes through which stereotypes
are applied in behaviour.
A neural network for stereotyping. The research described
above suggests that a network of neural structures sup-
ports stereotyping processes (FIG. 4). The ATL is believed
to represent stereotype-related knowledge, and it provides
input to the mPFC, possibly also during the online for-
mation of impressions about an individual. In this way,
social stereotypes ‘stored’ in the ATL may influence trait
impression processes associated with dorsal mPFC activ-
ity. The application of stereotypes to behaviour seems to
involve regions of the lateral PFC that are associated with
goal representation and response inhibition. Together,
the structures in this putative network may support the
storage, activation and behavioural expression of social
stereotypes.
Interacting networks
The framework described above suggests separate net-
works for prejudice and stereotyping, but in most cases
these two processes operate in concert. Thus, although
they are largely rooted in distinct neural systems, their
effects converge in higher-level cognition and behav-
ioural expression. Neuroscience studies suggest several
places at which this convergence may occur, although
this is primarily based on studies of connectivity in non-
human animals. For example, the anatomical connec-
tivity of the amygdala and OFC with the ATL, via the
uncinate fasciculus 92 , is consistent with behavioural evi-
dence that affective responses may influence the activa-
tion of stereotype concepts, and vice versa 113 , 114. Similarly,
signals from several structures that are involved in both
prejudice and stereotyping — including the amygdala,
insula, striatum, OFC and ATL — converge in regions of
the mPFC, where information seems to be integrated in
support of elaborate person representations 62 , 63. Finally,
the joint influences of prejudiced affect and stereotype
concepts on behaviour are likely to converge in the stria-
tum, which receives inputs from the amygdala, OFC, lat-
eral PFC and ATL, as well as other regions 73 , 115. Although
the coherence of these proposed functional networks for
prejudice and stereotyping and their interaction has yet
to be tested, their existence is consistent with known
anatomical connectivity (which has been primarily
observed in non-human animals) and is supported by
decades of theory and behavioural research in the social
psychology literature 4 , 5.
Regulation of prejudice and stereotyping
In an era of increasing diversity, international relations,
global communication and awareness of civil rights
issues, intergroup biases are often deemed to be both per-
sonally and socially unacceptable. Preferences based on
racial and ethnic categories that may have been adaptive
in less complex societies are no longer so. Fortunately,
the human mind is adept at self-regulation, and although
stereotypes and prejudices may come to mind automati-
cally in intergroup contexts, their expression can often be
moderated. Neuroscience research on the mechanisms
supporting the control of intergroup responses incorpo-
rates existing domain-general models of cognitive con-
trol into broader models that consider the influence of
social factors. For example, the impetus for the control
of racial bias may arise from internal cues (for example,
the personal rejection of prejudice) or external cues (for
example, social pressure to respond without prejudice),
and engagement in control is frequently associated with
social emotions such as social anxiety or guilt 43. A neural
model of prejudice control should account for these dif-
ferent impetuses and emotion effects. In this way, neuro-
science research on prejudice has inspired an expanded
view of the neural and psychological processes involved
in control.
Anterior cingulate cortex. The ACC has been widely
implicated in the monitoring and detection of response
conflict 116 , 117. In particular, the dorsal region of the ACC
(FIG. 5) is often activated during cognitive control tasks,
such as the Stroop or Flanker tasks, on trials involving
a high degree of conflict between one’s desired response
and a countervailing tendency 118 , 119. Conflict monitor-
ing theory posits that as the conflict signal in the ACC
rises, the ACC increasingly engages dlPFC regions that
function to implement goal-directed behaviour 120. This
model is consistent with the ACC’s connectivity with
PFC regions involved in high-level goal representa-
tion and with the PFC’s connectivity with the striatum,
through which top-down control is implemented in
behaviour 73 , 110 , 121.
In a social context, cognitive control is needed to
curb the unwanted influence of implicit stereotypes and
prejudices on behaviour 7 , 122. Building on conflict moni-
toring theory, it has been proposed that the control of
implicit bias requires the detection of a conflict between
a biased tendency and one’s goal to act without bias 123.
Support for this proposal was provided by a study that
assessed ACC activity, which was indexed by the error-
related negativity component of the event-related potential
(ERP). In this study, subjects performed a task that
required them to inhibit the automatic expression of
racial stereotypes on some trials but not others (the
NATURE REVIEWS | NEUROSCIENCE VOLUME 15 | O CTOBER 2014 | 677
control (BOX 2). Findings consistent with this idea have
been reported in studies using EEG, fMRI and brain
lesion approaches in combination with behavioural
tasks designed to assess elements of prejudice con-
trol 51 , 64 , 126 , 137 , 138. Together, these studies have begun to
identify the specific pathways through which the PFC
guides the control of intergroup responses.
Medial prefrontal cortex. As noted in previous sections,
the mPFC contributes to aspects of both stereotyping
and prejudice. However, this region is large, heterogene-
ous and widely interconnected, and emerging theories
and research suggest that its function may be closely
tied to regulatory processes as well. Amodio and Frith 62
proposed that, given its role in mentalizing, the mPFC
supports the regulation of behavioural responses accord-
ing to social cues. Early evidence from ERP data sug-
gested that activity in the mPFC and/or rostral ACC
was uniquely associated with behavioural control that
is guided by external social cues, whereas activity in
the dorsal ACC was associated with internally con-
trolled behaviour 124. In addition, ventral portions of the
mPFC are interconnected with the OFC and amygdala,
and through these connections it may support the top-
down modulation of emotional responses 139. Hence, the
mPFC may support the regulation of intergroup affect,
such as threat or contempt, although this hypothesis
remains to be tested. Considered broadly, emerging evi-
dence regarding mPFC function suggests that it has a
larger role in cognitive control than previously thought,
particularly in the context of regulating complex social
responses.
A network for the regulation of prejudice and stereotyping.
Self-regulation is critical for the adaptive expression
of social behaviour. This is especially true with regard
to stereotyping and prejudice given the potential
(unwanted) influence of implicit biases on behaviour.
The putative network of neural regions involved in the
regulation of intergroup responses includes ACC and
PFC regions that have been implicated in existing mod-
els of cognitive control, as well as additional regions that
facilitate control in social contexts (FIG. 5). Specifically,
although the dorsal ACC and lateral PFC may carry out
the domain-general functions of detecting conflict and
implementing top-down control, the mPFC and rostral
ACC are important for guiding control that is based on
social cues, such as norms against expressing prejudice,
and intergroup emotions.
From brain to society
Research on the neural basis of prejudice occupies a
special position at the interface of the natural and social
sciences, and as such it is uniquely situated to bring
neuroscientific advances to bear on real-world social
issues. To date, the neuroscientific analysis of prejudice
has advanced theories of how prejudices are formed,
expressed and potentially controlled, and these can be
used to inform interventions aimed at reducing discrimi-
nation. For example, research linking implicit prejudice
and stereotyping to different neural substrates suggests
that these two forms of bias are subserved by different
learning and memory systems — a clue that interventions
to reduce prejudice and stereotyping may require differ-
ent approaches 10 , 28. Implicit prejudice has been linked to
fear conditioning involving the amygdala, whereas ste-
reotype associations appear to reflect conceptual learn-
ing systems involving the temporal cortex and PFC.
Importantly, learning and expression differ consider-
ably between these systems: fear conditioning may be
acquired in a single trial and expressed primarily through
behavioural freezing, anxiety and heightened vigilance 18 ,
whereas conceptual associations require many exposures
for acquisition and are expressed through high-level rep-
resentations of impressions and goal-directed actions 140.
Social cognition studies have begun to adopt interven-
tion strategies that are consistent with this analysis, using
tasks in which images of racial outgroup members are
repeatedly paired with positive images and appetitive
responses or with counter-stereotypical concepts, in an
effort to selectively target the affective or semantic mem-
ory systems underlying implicit prejudices and stereo-
types, respectively 29 , 30 , 141. By considering the operations
of these different neural systems, researchers are gaining
a better understanding of how and under what condi-
tions different forms of bias are activated, expressed and
potentially extinguished.
Despite some success in reducing behavioural and
physiological expressions of implicit bias in the labo-
ratory 29 , 30 , 141 , 142 , most forms of implicit learning are
resistant to extinction 140 , 143. Implicit racial biases are
particularly difficult to change in a cultural milieu that
constantly reinforces racial prejudices and stereotypes
(for example, in mainstream media). Thus, although
attempts to undo learned intergroup associations are
laudable, such strategies may be ineffective for reducing
the expression of bias in behaviour outside the labora-
tory. Instead, interventions that enhance the cognitive
control of behaviour should be more effective. Such
control-based strategies may not reduce prejudice in
the mind, but they can prevent its effect on potential
victims. Over time, control-driven changes in behaviour
may become habitual, and prejudiced and stereotypical
associations in the mind may weaken 7 , 144. Neuroscience
models suggest that control-based interventions should
focus on (at least) two separate processes: those for mon-
itoring unwanted racially biased tendencies and those
involved in the top-down control of behaviour. Strategies
to enhance ACC-mediated conflict-monitoring processes
include interventions that increase people’s awareness of
the potential for bias, increase attention to specific cues
indicating that control may be needed (for example, the
appearance of an outgroup member in an interaction)
and increase the sensitivity of conflict monitoring systems
(for example, by activating cognitive conflict prior to an
intergroup response) 145 , 146. For the effective control of
behaviour, conflict monitoring processes must be paired
with top-down response plans. To this end, psychological
research has shown that goal strategies that link a spe-
cific cue (for example, ‘if I meet a black person’) with a
pre-planned response (for example, ‘I will ignore his or
her race’ or ‘I will respond more carefully’) are especially
NATURE REVIEWS | NEUROSCIENCE VOLUME 15 | O CTOBER 2014 | 679
effective at facilitating the control of implicit stereotypes
in behaviour 147. By helping to inspire and explicate strate-
gies such as these, the neuroscience of prejudice is already
beginning to inform policy and interventions aimed at
reducing prejudice in society.
Beyond its implications for social issues regarding
intergroup relations, research on the neural basis of
prejudice provides a context for understanding neural
function as it relates to the real-world lives of human
beings. Many areas of social neuroscience consider the
effects of social factors on neural function, but the neu-
roscience of prejudice is a particularly rich topic as it
considers the roles of personal attitudes and motivations,
social norms and social emotions as they relate to com-
plex interpersonal behaviours. If the human brain has
evolved to support survival and prosperity in a complex
social environment, then a research approach that con-
siders this range of factors will be needed to truly under-
stand neural function. Research on the neural basis of
prejudice is an important step in this direction.
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Social motivations, such as the desire to affiliate or com-
pete with others, rank among the most potent of human
drives1. Not surprisingly, the capacity to discern ‘us’ from
‘them’ is fundamental in the human brain. Although this
computation takes just a fraction of a second2,3, it sets the
stage for social categorization, stereotypes, prejudices, inter-
group conflict and inequality, and, at the extremes, war
and genocide. Thus, although prejudice stems from a
mechanism of survival, built on cognitive systems that
‘structure’ the physical world, its function in modern
society is complex and its effects are often deleterious.
For the neuroscientist, the domain of prejudice pro-
vides a unique context for examining neural mechanisms
of the human mind that guide complex behaviour. Social
prejudices are scaffolded by basic-level neurocognitive
structures, but their expression is guided by personal
goals and normative expectations, played out in dyadic
and intergroup settings; this is truly the human brain
invivo. Although probing the neural basis of prejudice
is a challenging endeavour — in which the rigours of
reductionism are balanced with the richness of context
— it offers neuroscientists the opportunity to connect
their knowledge to some of society’s most pressing prob-
lems, such as discrimination, intergroup conflict and
disparities in health and socioeconomicstatus.
In this article, I review research on the role of the brain
in social prejudice and stereotyping. The term prejudice is
used broadly to refer to preconceptions — often negative
— about groups or individuals based on their social, racial
or ethnic affiliations4. Within the field of social psychol-
ogy, prejudice refers more specifically to evaluations (that
is, attitudes) and emotional responses towards a group and
its members. Stereotypes, by comparison, are generalized
characteristics ascribed to a social group, such as personal
traits (for example, unintelligent) or circumstantial attrib-
utes (for example, poor)5. Although they are distinguish-
able by content and process, prejudices and stereotypes
often operate in combination to influence social behav-
iour6. Moreover, both forms of bias can operate implicitly,
such that they may be activated and influence judgements
and behaviours without conscious awareness7–9.
Despite the persistence of prejudices and stereotypes
in contemporary society, their effects on behaviour are
often countered by people’s egalitarian personal beliefs
and pro-social norms7. Guided by these beliefs and
norms, people frequently engage self-regulatory pro-
cesses to mitigate the effects of bias on their behaviour.
Hence, a theoretical analysis of prejudice and stereo-
typing is incomplete without a consideration of these
regulatory processes. Here, self-regulation refers to
the process of acting in an intentional manner, often
through mechanisms of cognitive control.
The neuroscientific research conducted on prejudice
and stereotyping over the past decade suggests that these
complex forms of human behaviour involve different
interacting networks of neural structures. In this article, I
describe the functions of key structures in each network,
including both their broader neurocognitive functions
and their specific roles in prejudice and stereotyping.
This article extends previous reviews on this topic —
which were guided by a social psychological analysis10
or emphasized a particular neuroimaging method11,12 —
by providing a comprehensive overview of the literature
from a neural-systems perspective. Although many of
the conclusions drawn from this emerging literature rely
heavily on reverse inference from neuroimaging data,
Social motivations
Motives that operate in social
contexts and satisfy basic,
often universal, goals and
aspirations, such as to affiliate
(for example, form relationships
and communities) or to achieve
dominance (for example, within
a social hierarchy).
Stereotypes
Conceptual attributes
associated with a group and its
members (often through over-
generalization), which may
refer to trait or circumstantial
characteristics.
Prejudices
Evaluations of or affective
responses towards a social
group and its members based
on preconceptions.
The neuroscience of prejudice and
stereotyping
David M.Amodio
Abstract | Despite global increases in diversity, social prejudices continue to fuel intergroup
conflict, disparities and discrimination. Moreover, as norms have become more egalitarian,
prejudices seem to have ‘gone underground’, operating covertly and often unconsciously,
such that they are difficult to detect and control. Neuroscientists have recently begun to
probe the neural basis of prejudice and stereotyping in an effort to identify the processes
through which these biases form, influence behaviour and are regulated. This research aims
to elucidate basic mechanisms of the social brain while advancing our understanding of
intergroup bias in social behaviour.
New York University,
Department of Psychology,
6 Washington Place,
New York, New York 10003,
USA.
e-mail: david.amodio@nyu.
edu
doi:10.1038/nrn3800
Published online
4 September 2014
REVIEWS
670
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OCTOBER 2014
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VOLUME 15 www.nature.com/reviews/neuro
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