If this wasn't true, I'd be a lot less friendly
Racism Studies Find Rational Part of Brain Can Override Prejudice
Associated Press
When scientists theorize about why racism is pervasive - so much so that some have suggested it is hard-wired into us - they come up with something like this: Back when humans were venturing out of the species' birthplace in east Africa, each little band mostly kept to itself. But occasionally someone, searching for food or territory or maybe adventure, came upon someone unfamiliar, from a different band.
He could wait for the thoughtful, cognitive part of his brain to assess the stranger. Or he could follow the instincts of the primitive, vigilance and wariness-inducing part of his brain, instantly identifying the guy as an outsider and then either running like heck or assaulting him. With this reaction, he was more likely to live and reproduce. We, the descendants of such people, inherited their genetically based brain modules, which reflexively classify people as "like me" or "unlike me." And thus was racism wired into humankind.
Leave aside that this fable is impossible to test and rests on a questionable assumption (at the dawn of human history, people looked pretty much alike even if they belonged to different bands). It has nevertheless exerted a powerful hold on the imaginations of those who regard racism as a fundamental and therefore inevitable human attribute. More evidence: Although many white Americans consider themselves unbiased, when unconscious stereotypes are measured, some 90 percent implicitly link blacks with negative traits (evil, failure). (You can find a test of unconscious stereotyping at https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/.)
But recent studies challenge the conclusion that racism is natural and unavoidable.
