On the neglected role of stereotypes in empathy toward other-race pain

Abstract

Recent studies on empathy toward other-race individuals demonstrate a preferential neural response to own-race members’ pain. Based on the observation that existing studies, using different techniques, did not provide a convergent scenario on how implicit racial prejudice relate to empathy in cross-racial contexts, in the current commentary we claim that future efforts in this domain should distinguish between processes of racial prejudice and racial stereotypes. These concepts have been differentiated in social psychology, and two independent measures have been provided to assess them. We propose that these aspects should be taken into further consideration in future studies to fully understand the social neuroscience of empathy in cross-racial contexts.

Keywords:

• Empathy for pain
• Race
• Event-related potentials
• Implicit racial prejudice
• Stereotyping

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest with any financial organization regarding the material discussed in the article.