Stronger Prejudices Are Associated With Decreased Model-Based Control
Background: Prejudices against minorities can be understood as habitually negative evaluations that are kept in spite of evidence to the contrary. Therefore, individuals with strong prejudices might be dominated by habitual or “automatic” reactions at the expense of more controlled reactions. Comput...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2022-01-01
|
| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.767022/full |
| _version_ | 1798033955604135936 |
|---|---|
| author | Miriam Sebold Miriam Sebold Hao Chen Aleyna Önal Sören Kuitunen-Paul Sören Kuitunen-Paul Negin Mojtahedzadeh Maria Garbusow Stephan Nebe Hans-Ulrich Wittchen Quentin J. M. Huys Quentin J. M. Huys Florian Schlagenhauf Florian Schlagenhauf Michael A. Rapp Michael N. Smolka Andreas Heinz |
| author_facet | Miriam Sebold Miriam Sebold Hao Chen Aleyna Önal Sören Kuitunen-Paul Sören Kuitunen-Paul Negin Mojtahedzadeh Maria Garbusow Stephan Nebe Hans-Ulrich Wittchen Quentin J. M. Huys Quentin J. M. Huys Florian Schlagenhauf Florian Schlagenhauf Michael A. Rapp Michael N. Smolka Andreas Heinz |
| author_sort | Miriam Sebold |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Background: Prejudices against minorities can be understood as habitually negative evaluations that are kept in spite of evidence to the contrary. Therefore, individuals with strong prejudices might be dominated by habitual or “automatic” reactions at the expense of more controlled reactions. Computational theories suggest individual differences in the balance between habitual/model-free and deliberative/model-based decision-making.Methods: 127 subjects performed the two Step task and completed the blatant and subtle prejudice scale.Results: By using analyses of choices and reaction times in combination with computational modeling, subjects with stronger blatant prejudices showed a shift away from model-based control. There was no association between these decision-making processes and subtle prejudices.Conclusion: These results support the idea that blatant prejudices toward minorities are related to a relative dominance of habitual decision-making. This finding has important implications for developing interventions that target to change prejudices across societies. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T20:36:46Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-19d07ca37f954a91b8f5e49bf6ca8c2b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T20:36:46Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-19d07ca37f954a91b8f5e49bf6ca8c2b2022-12-22T04:04:20ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782022-01-011210.3389/fpsyg.2021.767022767022Stronger Prejudices Are Associated With Decreased Model-Based ControlMiriam Sebold0Miriam Sebold1Hao Chen2Aleyna Önal3Sören Kuitunen-Paul4Sören Kuitunen-Paul5Negin Mojtahedzadeh6Maria Garbusow7Stephan Nebe8Hans-Ulrich Wittchen9Quentin J. M. Huys10Quentin J. M. Huys11Florian Schlagenhauf12Florian Schlagenhauf13Michael A. Rapp14Michael N. Smolka15Andreas Heinz16Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, GermanyDepartment for Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, GermanyDepartment of Psychiatry, Neuroimaging Center, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, GermanyDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, GermanyInstitute of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, GermanyDepartment of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, GermanyDepartment of Psychiatry, Neuroimaging Center, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, GermanyDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, GermanyDepartment of Economics, Zurich Center for Neuroeconomics, University of Zurich, Zurich, SwitzerlandDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, GermanyDivision of Psychiatry, University College London, London, United KingdomMax Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, University College London, London, United KingdomDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany0Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, GermanyDepartment for Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, GermanyDepartment of Psychiatry, Neuroimaging Center, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, GermanyDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, GermanyBackground: Prejudices against minorities can be understood as habitually negative evaluations that are kept in spite of evidence to the contrary. Therefore, individuals with strong prejudices might be dominated by habitual or “automatic” reactions at the expense of more controlled reactions. Computational theories suggest individual differences in the balance between habitual/model-free and deliberative/model-based decision-making.Methods: 127 subjects performed the two Step task and completed the blatant and subtle prejudice scale.Results: By using analyses of choices and reaction times in combination with computational modeling, subjects with stronger blatant prejudices showed a shift away from model-based control. There was no association between these decision-making processes and subtle prejudices.Conclusion: These results support the idea that blatant prejudices toward minorities are related to a relative dominance of habitual decision-making. This finding has important implications for developing interventions that target to change prejudices across societies.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.767022/fullsubtle and blatant prejudiceimmigrantsocial behaviordecision-makingcomputational modelingreinforcement learning |
| spellingShingle | Miriam Sebold Miriam Sebold Hao Chen Aleyna Önal Sören Kuitunen-Paul Sören Kuitunen-Paul Negin Mojtahedzadeh Maria Garbusow Stephan Nebe Hans-Ulrich Wittchen Quentin J. M. Huys Quentin J. M. Huys Florian Schlagenhauf Florian Schlagenhauf Michael A. Rapp Michael N. Smolka Andreas Heinz Stronger Prejudices Are Associated With Decreased Model-Based Control Frontiers in Psychology subtle and blatant prejudice immigrant social behavior decision-making computational modeling reinforcement learning |
| title | Stronger Prejudices Are Associated With Decreased Model-Based Control |
| title_full | Stronger Prejudices Are Associated With Decreased Model-Based Control |
| title_fullStr | Stronger Prejudices Are Associated With Decreased Model-Based Control |
| title_full_unstemmed | Stronger Prejudices Are Associated With Decreased Model-Based Control |
| title_short | Stronger Prejudices Are Associated With Decreased Model-Based Control |
| title_sort | stronger prejudices are associated with decreased model based control |
| topic | subtle and blatant prejudice immigrant social behavior decision-making computational modeling reinforcement learning |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.767022/full |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT miriamsebold strongerprejudicesareassociatedwithdecreasedmodelbasedcontrol AT miriamsebold strongerprejudicesareassociatedwithdecreasedmodelbasedcontrol AT haochen strongerprejudicesareassociatedwithdecreasedmodelbasedcontrol AT aleynaonal strongerprejudicesareassociatedwithdecreasedmodelbasedcontrol AT sorenkuitunenpaul strongerprejudicesareassociatedwithdecreasedmodelbasedcontrol AT sorenkuitunenpaul strongerprejudicesareassociatedwithdecreasedmodelbasedcontrol AT neginmojtahedzadeh strongerprejudicesareassociatedwithdecreasedmodelbasedcontrol AT mariagarbusow strongerprejudicesareassociatedwithdecreasedmodelbasedcontrol AT stephannebe strongerprejudicesareassociatedwithdecreasedmodelbasedcontrol AT hansulrichwittchen strongerprejudicesareassociatedwithdecreasedmodelbasedcontrol AT quentinjmhuys strongerprejudicesareassociatedwithdecreasedmodelbasedcontrol AT quentinjmhuys strongerprejudicesareassociatedwithdecreasedmodelbasedcontrol AT florianschlagenhauf strongerprejudicesareassociatedwithdecreasedmodelbasedcontrol AT florianschlagenhauf strongerprejudicesareassociatedwithdecreasedmodelbasedcontrol AT michaelarapp strongerprejudicesareassociatedwithdecreasedmodelbasedcontrol AT michaelnsmolka strongerprejudicesareassociatedwithdecreasedmodelbasedcontrol AT andreasheinz strongerprejudicesareassociatedwithdecreasedmodelbasedcontrol |