Preparation of an EEG recording. It is used for a Microstate analysis in order to depict processes in the brain temporally and spatially. Credit: University of Bern / Adrian Moser

A soccer fan needs more time to associate a positive word with an opposing club than with his own team. And supporters of a political party associate a favourable attribute faster with their party than with political rivals – even if they endeavour towards the opposite. It is long since known that a positive association with one’s own group, an “in-group”, happens unconsciously faster than with an “outgroup”. These different reaction times become visible in the Implicit Association Test (IAT) with which psychologists examine unconscious processes and prejudices. But why the effort to address a friendly word to an outgroup takes more time was not clear up to now.

– University of Bern

Source: Tracking prejudices in the brain