Resonating with Friend and Foe: A Functional Approach to Group Biases in Motor Resonance

Jennifer Gutsell (Brandeis University)

Resonating with Friend and Foe: A Functional Approach to Group Biases in Motor Resonance

Jennifer Gutsell, Brandeis University

http://www.jennifergutsell.com/

Mon April 14, 4 PM, Kreplick conference room, Psychology Dept., Tufts University

People say that to gain a true understanding of another, one needs to put oneself into another’s shoes, and try to see the world through their eyes. The assumption here is that understanding comes from using one’s own references and one’s own body to simulate the experiences of the other. In recent years neuroscience has supported these folk psychology notions of how we understand each other: Similar neural circuits are activated during action and action observation, and such motor resonance is said to support action understanding and interpersonal coordination.  In this talk, I will take a motivational approach to motor resonance, and look at motor resonance in an intergroup context. I will present research that uses the suppression of electroencephalographic (EEG) oscillations in the alpha frequency band during action observation as an index of motor resonance. First, I will review studies that suggest an ingroup bias in motor resonance: People show motor resonance in response to the actions of ingroup members, but they do not show motor resonance in response to the actions of ethnic outgroup members, and this bias in motor resonance is aggravated with increasing prejudice and for disliked outgroups. I will then present a series of studies that explore facilitating conditions for cross-group motor resonance. For instance, I will provide data suggesting that resonance is increased when the observer is in a perspective taking mindset, and when the observer believes in high genetic similarity between individuals. At the same time, cross-group motor resonance is also increased for threatening outgroup behavior. How much people resonate with outgroup members, thus, is malleable, and seems to depend on the motivational significance of the target person and the behavior in question.