Brain scan 'identifies race bias among white people'

[Ringo]

From Ananova (news story link - cite may not last very long):

A brain scan that can apparently root out racists has been developed by scientists.

The technique was used on white volunteers shown photographs of black individuals.

In those with racist tendencies, a surge of activity was seen in part of the brain that controls thoughts and behaviour. Scientists believe this reflected volunteers’ attempts to to curb their latent racism.

Sounds like e-meters to me.

[Ryan_Liam]

Reverse the same thing and make black people look at white faces, and I bet the same ‘race bias’ they claim is only inheirent in our race is the exact same.

Racism is because of a cultivation of stereotyping, nationalism, and some sense that your race is better than another. Its cultural, not genetic.

[Master_Wang-Ka1]

Hey, that WOULD be interesting.

Did they test any black folks?

[mascaroni]

*Originally posted by Ryan_Liam *
**

Racism is because of a cultivation of stereotyping, nationalism, and some sense that your race is better than another. Its cultural, not genetic. **

IMHO:
We are all instinctively racist. It is human nature.
However, we are not animals, we are civilized and we subjugate those feelings, probably don’t even recognize them.
The veneer of civilization is thin though, as has been demonstrated in the Balkans in the 90’s, in Germany in the 30’s and many other conflicts.

I know I’m going to get hammered for this because racism is the last taboo…

But, IMHO, if we bury our heads under the sand repeating the mantra ‘Racism Bad’ without seriously attempting to address the subject, history will repeat itself.

You can’t solve a problem like this by ignoring it.

[syncrolecyne]

I am not sure if “race” is the best word to use, but I do agree that humans make judgements about others based on even the most minute and inconsequential differences in appearance, and especially facial features that are different from what we accept as the norm.

[Johnny_Bravo]

I’m forced to wonder how many different kinds of stimuli would evoke the exact same surges of activity.

[tomndebb]

Well, there actually is a Dr Jennifer Richeson at Dartmouth who is studying (from the Dartmouth web site)

Experimental social, intergroup relations and prejudice. Investigates the ways in which social group memberships impact cognition, affect, and behavior at both the intra-individual and inter-individual levels. Examines antecedents and consequence of prejudice and stereotyping from the perspectives of both members of traditionally stigmatized groups as well as members of traditionally dominant groups.

(I had first wondered whether the whole story was fabricated.)

However, as reported, the story is both sensationalized and, apparently, overblown. It would be interesting to see what they research really turned up.
I also suspect that testing racism is simply the easiest xenophobia to identify.

[Ringo]

Yes, I agree, the story was sensationalized; that’s really why I noted it. The rest of the story gives little real information save for a quote from Dr. Richeson, who said, “We were surprised to find brain activity in response to faces of black individuals predicted how research participants performed on cognitive tasks after actual interracial interactions.”

Which is still very little real information.

[Saint_Zero]

Here is a cute rebuttal from Google, including a supposed reply from the lady herself. Of note is the date of the original story from the New York Times, back on May 6, 2003.

Dr Jennifer Richeson responded to this press release with this
statement: “…i want to assure you that we don’t believe that bran scans can or should “identify racial bias.” in fact, we are working to get this article removed from all outlets, as it is a complete misrepresentation of our work.”

Which makes me want to read the original article, except I don’t want to buy a copy from the American Psychological Society.