ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes intergroup research involving at least one measurement of brain activity, electrophysiology, or neuroendocrinology, which will generally be referred to as biological measures. Intergroup relations have been most widely studied from a social psychological perspective. Biological approaches to intergroup perception have demonstrated similar neural and physiological correlates of person perception both within and across group boundaries. By combining an actual social interaction with neural responses to other-race faces, this work provided a bridge between the extensive biological research on intergroup face perception and processes observed during intergroup interactions. Biological research on intergroup relations shows that applying an outgroup label to a person serves to signal that the person is not relevant to oneself. The most pressing question on intergroup relations yet to be answered by biological research is the direction of causality between physiological and psychological responses in intergroup contexts.
