People who favor group-based inequality tend to have less gray matter in an empathy-linked brain region
A preference for social hierarchy may be linked to both brain structure and motivation. Researchers found that people scoring higher in social dominance orientation had less gray matter in a region tied to empathy and emotion.
A new study published in Current Psychology reveals a possible connection between people's preference for social hierarchies and a decrease in gray matter in a brain region associated with empathy and emotional processing. The research, led by Jesús Adrián-Ventura from the University of Zaragoza in Spain, focused on individuals with higher social dominance orientation, a trait indicating a preference for inequality between social groups.
Participants who scored higher in this trait displayed less gray matter in the anterior insula, a brain area crucial for detecting bodily sensations and processing others' emotions. This observation suggests that individual differences in motivation and emotional processing might underpin political and social worldviews. Previous research has linked social dominance orientation to diminished empathy and an appetite for rewards, both of which could contribute to the observed brain differences.
Written by urgent.news from PsyPost's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
