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The Stereotype Content Model (SCM) was first proposed by Susan Fiske and her colleagues (Fiske, Cuddy, Glick & Xu, 2002; see also Fiske, 2012 and Fiske, 2017). The SCM specifies that when someone encounters a new group, they will stereotype them based on two metrics: warmth—or that group’s perceived intent, and how likely they are to provide help or inflict harm—and competence—or their ability to carry out that objective. Depending on the warmth-competence...
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Humans are very diverse and although we share many similarities, we also have many differences. The social groups we belong to help form our identities (Tajfel, 1974). These differences may be difficult for some people to reconcile, which may lead to prejudice toward people who are different. Prejudice is a negative attitude and feeling toward an individual based solely on one’s membership in a particular social group (Allport, 1954; Brown, 2010). Prejudice is common against people who...
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Cognitive bias results from limitations in thinking and information processing, leading to systematic errors in judgment. Conversely, motivational bias stems from personal desires or emotions, causing distortions in perception to align with self-interest. Motivational bias influences how individuals perceive and attribute causes to events, often shaped by personal needs, goals, and self-esteem preservation. This bias can distort judgment, leading to inaccurate assessments of success, failure,...
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A schema is a mental construct consisting of a cluster or collection of related concepts (Bartlett, 1932). There are many different types of schemata, and they all have one thing in common: schemata are a method of organizing information that allows the brain to work more efficiently. When a schema is activated, the brain makes immediate assumptions about the person or object being observed.
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Updated: Jan 18, 2026

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Racial stereotypes bias the neural representation of objects towards perceived weapons.

DongWon Oh1, Henna I Vartiainen2, Jonathan B Freeman3

  • 1National University of Singapore, Department of Psychology, Singapore, Singapore.

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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Racial stereotypes can alter visual perception, making people misidentify everyday objects as weapons after seeing Black faces. This neuroimaging study reveals how stereotypes bias our visual representations and influence biased responses.

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Area of Science:

  • Cognitive Neuroscience
  • Social Psychology
  • Neuroimaging

Background:

  • Racial stereotypes can lead to biased object identification, particularly perceiving innocuous items as weapons in the presence of Black individuals.
  • This bias may stem from transient perceptual distortions influenced by racial stereotypes.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the neuroimaging evidence for stereotype-driven biases in visual representation.
  • To explore the mechanism by which automatically activated racial stereotypes affect object perception.

Main Methods:

  • Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to measure brain activity.
  • Participants viewed tools after being primed with Black or White faces.
  • Neural response patterns in object-discriminative ventral temporal cortex regions were analyzed.

Main Results:

  • Tools presented after Black face primes showed neural response patterns biased towards gun images.
  • This neural representational shift occurred in object-perceiving brain regions.
  • The magnitude of neural representational shifts predicted behavioral racial bias in response times.

Conclusions:

  • Automatically activated racial stereotypes can shape visual representations of objects.
  • This bias in visual perception contributes to racially biased responding.
  • Neuroimaging provides evidence for the role of altered visual perception in racial bias.