The mere presence of an outgroup member disrupts the brain's feedback-monitoring system.

ABSTRACT: Much of human learning happens in the social world. A person's social identity-the groups to which they belong, the people with whom they identify-is a powerful cue that can affect our goal-directed behaviors, often implicitly. In the present experiment, we explored the underlying neural mechanisms driving these processes, testing hypotheses derived from social identity theory. In a within-subjects design, participants underwent a minimal group manipulation where they were randomly assigned to an arbitrary ingroup. In two blocks of the experiment, participants were asked to complete a task for money while being observed by an ingroup member and outgroup member separately. Results revealed that being observed by an ingroup or outgroup member led to divergent patterns of neural activity asso

SUBMITTER: Hobson NM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5091674 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature