An fMRI study on the effects of familiarity and context on moral stereotyping of people diagnosed with psychopathy
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2015-07-01
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en
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Introduction This study aims to gain insight into mental health stereotyping. Particularly we focus on stereotyp-ing of people diagnosed with psychopathic disorder. To examine behavioral effects of mental health stereotypes, psychopathy-labeling effects on subjects´ moral judgments were explored. Furthermore, we are interested in the underlying neural mechanisms that contribute to stereotyping of people labeled with a mental health diagnosis.
Methods A behavioral (n = 18) and fMRI (n = 18) were conducted. Subjects judged upon agents portrayed in 48 experimentally manipulated written moral scenarios. Moral scenarios experimentally varied in labeling of agents, and moral contexts. Repeated measures ANOVAs were used to analyze the behavioral data. The familiarity with psychopathy was established by a questionnaire. In the fMRI experiment, BOLD responses were measured when all information to make moral judgments was available.
Results Both experiments revealed a context dependent effect of familiarity on stereotyping towards psycho-paths. The effect of familiarity was apparent during judgments on inconclusive moral information. In these conditions, subjects unfamiliar with psychopathy judged psychopaths harsher compared to unlabeled agents, whereas subjects familiar with psychopathy judged psychopaths more lenient. Finally, the context-dependent effect of familiarity was concurrent with altered activity in the posterior and anterior insula.
Discussion In light of previous research, the behavioral and fMRI results suggest that familiar subjects judged psychopaths more lenient because they blocked the processing of emotionally aversive contextual information during judgments on psychopathy-labeled agents.
Conclusion These findings contribute to the understanding of intervention programs that reduce mental health stereotyping. Such programs diminish negative societal reactions towards mentally ill and thereby positively affect patient’s course of illness and prevent the adverse economic effects of mental health stigma.
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Faculteit der Sociale Wetenschappen