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Are you genetically programed to be racist?

This article explores the relationship between genetics, race, and racism. It discusses the lack of a genetic definition of race and the genetic variation within and between populations. The role of the nervous system and brain in perceiving and responding to threats is also examined. Additionally, the article examines how fear and social categorization can impact racism and suggests that racism may be a construct that can be erased.

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Are you genetically programed to be racist?

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  1. Are you genetically programed to be racist?

  2. Relationships of different people using mtDNA. • From Science v298 12/20/02 pg 2381 • 93-95% of genetic variation within population. • 3-5% of genetic variation occurs between populations. 7 Daughters of Eve, fig. 2

  3. There is no genetic definition of race.

  4. Humans have been constantly moving and migrating. Any geographic location contains people with DNA from many different other areas...

  5. The nervous system allows us to perceive the environment while the brain integrates the incoming signals to determine an appropriate response.

  6. Input to brain is filtered. What are you paying attention to?

  7. Active seeking of infoversusSubconscious scanning for threats Are we evolutionarily adapted to detect certain threats?

  8. Emotion Drives Attention: Detecting the Snake in the Grass Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 2001, Vol. 130, No. 3, 466-478 Arne Ohman, Anders Flykt, and Francisco Esteves

  9. Ability to detect snake or spider versus flower or mushroomby grid position Fig 1. Emotion Drives Attention: Detecting the Snake in the Grass (2001) J. of Ex. Psy., Vol. 130, No. 3, 466-478

  10. Ability to detect snake or spider versus flower or mushroomby grid position Fig 1. Emotion Drives Attention: Detecting the Snake in the Grass (2001) J. of Ex. Psy., Vol. 130, No. 3, 466-478

  11. Ability to detect snake or spider versus flower or mushroom is relatively quicker in a larger grid Fig 2. Emotion Drives Attention: Detecting the Snake in the Grass (2001) J. of Ex. Psy., Vol. 130, No. 3, 466-478

  12. The Role of Social Groups in the Persistence of Learned Fear (2005) SCIENCE 309 pg 785 Andreas Olsson, Jeffrey P. Ebert, Mahzarin R. Banaji, Elizabeth A. Phelpshttp://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/309/5735/785 This perspective accompanies the article and has some useful background and further discussion:http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/309/5735/711

  13. Conditioned fear: snakes/spiders Fig 1. The Role of Social Groups in the Persistence of Learned Fear (2005) SCIENCE 309 pg 785

  14. Conditioned fear: race Fig 1. The Role of Social Groups in the Persistence of Learned Fear (2005) SCIENCE 309 pg 785

  15. Fear of other races: Whites Blacks Fig 2. The Role of Social Groups in the Persistence of Learned Fear (2005) SCIENCE 309 pg 785

  16. Conditioned fear: snakes/spiders race Fig 1. The Role of Social Groups in the Persistence of Learned Fear (2005) SCIENCE 309 pg 785

  17. Is Race Necessarily a Defining Characteristic? Can race be erased? Coalitional computation and social categorization (December 18, 2001) PNAS vol. 98 no. 26 pg 15387–15392 Robert Kurzban, John Tooby, and Leda Cosmideshttp://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/98/26/15387

  18. Random Statements My birthday is in April. My birthday is in June. My birthday is in August. My birthday is in January. My birthdayis in February. My birthday is in July. My birthday is in October. My birthday is in May. Can race be erased? Coalitional computation and social categorization (December 18, 2001) PNAS vol. 98 no. 26 pg 15387–15392

  19. Coalition Membership I like orange. Hook em’. I like to wear overalls. Gig em’. Go Aggies. I like to wear chaps. I like Maroon. Go Horns. Can race be erased? Coalitional computation and social categorization (December 18, 2001) PNAS vol. 98 no. 26 pg 15387–15392

  20. When alternate coalition membership information is introduced, race is ignored. I like orange. Hook em’. I like to wear overalls. Gig em’. I like to wear chaps. I like Maroon. Go Aggies. Go Horns.

  21. Despite a lifetime's experience of race as a predictor of social alliance, less than 4 min of exposure to an alternate social world was enough to deflate the tendency to categorize by race. These results suggest that racism may be a volatile and eradicable construct that persists only so long as it is actively maintained through being linked to parallel systems of social alliance. Can race be erased? Coalitional computation and social categorization (December 18, 2001) PNAS vol. 98 no. 26 pg 15387–15392

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