Group Membership Influences Perceptions of Trustworthiness: An EMG and fMRI Study

Perceptions of facial trustworthiness are considered an automatic process. Here, participants rated pictures of “ingroup” and “outgroup” team members for apparent trustworthiness while either facial EMG or fMRI activity was recorded. Ingroup members were rated as more trustworthy, and patterns of EMG and fMRI responses were consistent with this bias.