Let's philosophize!
Description
If you like to observe and think critically and go beyond the superficial in trying to make sense of our world, perhaps we have something in common.
I share something from an APA article that is very topical amid all the discussions about systemic racism.
"How do you react when you encounter someone of a different race? You may not be aware of what’s really going on in your mind.
Research by psychologist William Cunningham and colleagues has revealed the complexity of what goes through people’s minds when they’re exposed to photos of people of different races. In their study, they scanned the brains of white people while flashing images of white and African American faces at them. Some photos flew by too quickly for participants to consciously see them; others were presented slowly enough—about half a second each—to register.
Even though all of the participants said they weren’t prejudiced, their brains told a different story. The subliminal images of African Americans prompted a lot of activity in the amygdala, a region of the brain associated with emotion. When the African American faces were presented more slowly, the amygdala calmed down and the activity shifted to a region of the brain associated with control and regulation. The findings suggest that the conscious mind can suppress unconscious prejudices.
But such repression takes a toll, according to a study by psychologist Jennifer Richeson and colleagues. The researchers began by unobtrusively testing an all-white group of participants for racial bias, then had them interact with an African American person, and finally asked them to perform a test of their cognitive capacity. In a separate session, participants viewed photographs of the faces of unfamiliar African American men while the researchers used fMRI to check their brain activity.
When they viewed the photos of the African American men, participants with high racial bias scores had high levels of activity in a brain region associated with the control of thoughts and behaviors. And participants with a lot of activity in that brain region performed more poorly on the cognitive test after interacting with the real-life African American person. In a culture where prejudice is unacceptable, the researchers concluded, biased participants were struggling to suppress their prejudice. And just as your muscles get tired after you exercise hard, the effort of suppressing racial bias temporarily exhausts your brain power.
It’s not just white people who respond negatively to African American faces, however. In an fMRI-based study, psychologist Matthew Lieberman and colleagues found that African Americans themselves also show greater amygdala activity when looking at black faces than when looking at white ones. Other researchers have speculated that whites have heightened amygdala response when viewing African American faces simply because they’re not as familiar as white faces. Lieberman’s research suggests that it’s not novelty that lies behind the response, but learned cultural beliefs.
Fortunately, what’s learned can be unlearned. Psychologist Elizabeth Phelps and colleagues, for instance, have found that familiarity with other racial groups may help defuse negative attitudes toward them.
In this research, Phelps exposed white participants to photos of unfamiliar white and African American men. The result? Heightened amygdala activity in response to the black faces. When the researchers substituted photos of well-liked, famous African Americans and whites, however, there was no difference in amygdala activity.
When it comes to inter-racial interactions, the researchers concluded, experience and familiarity can not only soothe the amygdala but bring people’s unconscious reactions in line with what they say they believe in: racial equality."
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2021-06-08