Thread by @JillPiggott

Brain imaging shows we're more empathetic to others' #pain if we share skin color. Explicit bias is equal in members of majority & minority groups, but implicit bias is higher in members of the majority, an impt finding for policing & medicine. /thread onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.10…

The perception or imagination of someone else's #pain kicks off activity in the parts of our brains that process our own pain, #fMRI imagining reveals. This "embodied empathy" is "tuned by a variety of factors," including individuals' personalities, relationships, & experiences.

"Culturally acquired implicit attitudes & perceived similarity/familiarity" also shape our “emotional responses to others' physical #pain.”

"Considerable evidence" from #brain imaging shows we make evaluations based on "race" w/in "milliseconds even when processed subliminally."

Azevedo et al (2012) put white & black people in #fMRIs & showed them videos of black, white, & violet hands being touched by a Q-tip or deeply punctured by a needle. They matched their brain activity to prior evidence about the parts of the brain used to process pain & empathy.

Whites & blacks revealed similar empathic traits (Azevedo 2012). "Consistent with previous literature (Avenanti et al., 2010; Dunham et al., 2008)," the "socially dominant group" had greater implicit bias than the minority group.

Black study participants felt more "self‐oriented anxiety" & "demonstrated greater levels of personal distress to others' suffering." The widespread, cumulative trauma experienced by black Americans isn't simply sociological & psychological, it's also #neurological.

Altho color-based systems of "racial" classification date only to the late 17th century, our brains themselves reveal that, in a general sense, "intergroup categorization is an automatic feature of human behavior & a powerful source of self‐identification" (Azevedo 2012).

"Although humans may be hard‐wired to empathize with everyone, they seem to preferentially resonate with the pain of individuals belonging to the same social group."

Recognizing the power of implicit bias is 1 way we become more empathetic to others. #BlackLivesMatter