Podcast extra: The question of brain biasPodcast extra: The question of brain bias
All In The Mind
What happens in our brain when we make assumptions about people who don’t seem to be like us – when they may look, speak, or behave differently. And can brain science help us to override our potential prejudices? I explore some research on this topic, which specifically looks at how we perceive other people, animals, and things outside ourselves - such as technology.
27:03•8 Nov 2020
The Question of Brain Bias: How Our Minds Dehumanise and Anthropomorphise
Episode Overview
- Social cognition involves thinking about other people’s minds, and the brain has a reliable neocortical network that supports this.
- Children start with basic social skills and strongly anthropomorphise, then refine who and what they see as having a mind.
- Adults regularly dehumanise others by failing to think about their minds, which can dampen empathy but also conserve mental resources in some contexts.
- Racial bias is described as a learned threat response centred on the amygdala, which can interact with dehumanisation in complex ways.
- Bias is framed as conscious and culturally learned, with change needing both individual awareness and structural reform to be effective.
“"Bias is often talked about as unconscious bias. Do you agree with that? Not at all. I think there's no such thing."”
What insights can experts and survivors share about addiction? Here, the focus shifts from substances to something just as stubborn and slippery: bias in the brain. Psychologist and social neuroscientist Lysana Harris joins host Lynne Malcolm to unpack how the brain treats some people as fully human while quietly switching off for others. Harris explains social cognition as "the idea of getting inside somebody's head" – a process our brains usually run automatically, until they don’t.
His work looks at the “boundary conditions” of this, such as when we fail to consider another person’s mind, or instead treat objects, pets, brands or even AI assistants as if they think and feel. You’ll hear how children start out as "wild anthropomorphisers", giving minds to monsters under the bed and misbehaving computers, and how this habit lingers in adulthood, from shouting at laptops to treating pets like furry humans.
Harris contrasts this with dehumanisation – the everyday habit of switching off empathy, such as walking past homeless people or reducing employees to their productivity. The conversation also separates prejudice from dehumanisation. Racial bias, Harris says, is essentially a learned threat response centred on the amygdala, "the burglar alarm" in the brain. Dehumanisation, by contrast, reflects reduced engagement of a neocortical network involved in thinking about minds.
Crucially, he challenges a popular phrase: "Bias is often talked about as unconscious bias. Do you agree with that? Not at all. I think there's no such thing." For anyone curious about why bias feels automatic yet can still be challenged, this chat offers a mix of hard science and plain language. It touches on individual responsibility, structural racism, and why changing laws matters just as much as changing hearts.
If you’ve ever wondered whether the brain can be trained to treat more people as fully human, this one may get you thinking about your own assumptions in a fresh way.
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