ABSTRACT

The very early perceptional processes that underlie social categorization can be detected with event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Using this methodology, the present work aims to detect differential attentional processing of ingroup and outgroup members based on gender categories. Specifically, three EEG studies tested how factors that enhance social identity relevance, namely gender identification and contextual salience of gender representation, moderate neural gender categorization effects. Study 1 showed that both women (Study 1a) and men (Study 1b) were more likely to show preferential attention to ingroup over outgroup members, but only when they identified strongly with their gender group. Study 2 showed that when gender categories in an intergroup leadership context were made salient (i.e., when women were numerically underrepresented versus equally represented compared to men), women, irrespective of their level of gender identification, showed preferential attention to ingroup over outgroup members. Together, this work provides empirical evidence for (1) the neural gender categorization effect among both men and women as soon as 100 ms after face perception and (2) the moderating role of factors that enhance social identity relevance in early gender categorization.

摘要

可以通过事件相关的大脑电位 (ERP) 检测到作为社会分类基础的非常早期的感知过程。使用这种方法，目前的工作旨在检测基于性别类别的内组和外组成员的差异注意处理。具体而言，三项脑电图研究测试了如何增强社会认同相关性的因素，即性别认同和性别表征的上下文显着性、适度的神经性别分类效应。研究 1 表明，女性（研究 1a）和男性（研究 1b）都更有可能优先关注内群体而不是外群体成员，但前提是她们对自己的性别群体有强烈的认同感。研究 2 表明，当群体间领导环境中的性别类别变得突出时（即，当女性在人数上的代表性不足与与男性相比同等代表性时），无论其性别认同水平如何，女性都优先关注内群体成员而不是外群体成员。总之，这项工作为（1）在面部感知后 100 毫秒内男性和女性的神经性别分类效应和（2）在早期性别分类中增强社会认同相关性的因素的调节作用提供了经验证据。