Dehumanising and disliking use different parts of the brain

Neurological confirmation of something many already suspected.

Through a series of experiments, Bruneau and his team determined that dehumanization and dislike are processed by two completely separate regions of the brain. In turn, this suggests that different psychological processes fuel the two emotional actions.

Evaluations of human groups and animals were made on a “cold” to “warm” scale, and the extent to which various groups were dehumanized was measured by asking participants to place the groups on the popular (but inaccurate) “Ascent of Man” scale. At first, the team thought that the participants wouldn’t admit if they saw others as less than fully human — but, according to the team’s statement, “many people had no problem blatantly saying so.”

Changes in brain activity were arguably as dramatic as the statements the participants made. When study participants judged groups of people and animals as less than human, the team noticed increased brain activity in the inferior frontal cortex of their brains. Conversely, there was less activity in this region when the participants positively evaluated what they saw as being “high-status human groups.”

“When people are dehumanizing others, they are mobilizing different brain regions than when they are registering dislike,” explains Bruneau. “Brain regions sensitive to dehumanizing other groups were not sensitive to dislike. And brain regions activated when registering dislike for those same groups were not activated when thinking about how human those groups are.”


https://www.inverse.com/article/46400-brain-process-dislike-dehumanization-trump