Researchers have recently found that the brain responds in a very different way when we talk to people with different socioeconomic backgrounds from our own compared to when we talk with someone having the same socioeconomic background as ours. Researchers have found out that the activity in the frontal lobe increases when we talk to someone from a different socioeconomic background. Researchers in a study found out that among pairs of individuals who had very different socioeconomic backgrounds calculated as per their education and family income, there was a very higher level of activity in the frontal lobe of the brain, called as left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. This area of the brain is dedicated towards the speech part of the individual and rule-based language as well as cognitive and attentional control. Our brain responds differently, and it is not predictable while we talk to any individual and this research tells that if we talk to a person who has the same interest as we have, then the brain responds quite quickly and accurately.
The results support previous research suggesting that frontal lobe systems play a role in the detection of bias and help us regulate our behavior to avoid the expression of bias. In a questionnaire, participants paired with people of different origins reported slightly higher levels of anxiety and exertion during their conversation than those in a similar peer context. Professor Joy Hirsch (UCL Medical Physics & Biomedical Engineering and Yale) said that they had identified the neural mechanisms involved in social interactions between people of different origins for the first time. “I think our results offer a hopeful message. We know that people can have positive social encounters with others who are different. Now that we have the neurobiological basics, it appears that our brains have developed a frontal lobe system that helps us deal with diversity,” he said.
