This article quoted a psychology study that a lot of us probably heard about some few years ago. All about how all white people have internalized racism because when given pictures of black people we all reacted in a way that indicated the perception of threat. I can't promise it was the same study as the one cited here, but I'd be willing to put money on it.
The important quote:
"Psychology research tells us that seeing people as individuals, rather than as members of groups, helps reduce social prejudice. The psychologist Susan Fiske showed exactly how easy this is, if we put our minds to it. In a 2005 neuroscience study, she found that when white participants saw photos of black faces and had two seconds to judge whether the people in these photographs were over the age of 21, they showed activity in the area of the brain called the amygdala, which indicates a high level of alertness and emotional arousal. In other words, they saw a threat.
But she discovered a neat trick to defusing this automatic fear response. In some cases, her research team asked the white participants to judge what sort of vegetable the people in the photos would prefer to eat. In those cases, where they were prompted to see the people as individuals with their own personal tastes and preferences, the amygdala activity looked the same as when participants saw white faces, suggesting that they were able to individuate, that is see the faces as individuals, rather than group them into a category perceived as “other.”
Unfortunately, the process of individuating has come under furious assault in recent years. More and more, elites in media and politics are encouraging us to think about ourselves as archetypes of groups rather than as individuals."
We're bombarded with demands that white people develop "white consciousness" when an honest, thinking person must know that this will lead to more racism, not less.
But it makes sense. If people started to view individualism as the cure for racism the entire intersectionality empire comes tumbling to the ground.
Is it possible that anyone who makes a living as a full time "Studies" professor was unaware of the second part of this study? Because I don't see how they could have been. Is anyone who studies race as their profession following up on this to find out the best ways of changing how people think about race?
Or are they writing another book about how white people are racist if they aren't racist enough?
Link to the study cited.
The important quote:
"Psychology research tells us that seeing people as individuals, rather than as members of groups, helps reduce social prejudice. The psychologist Susan Fiske showed exactly how easy this is, if we put our minds to it. In a 2005 neuroscience study, she found that when white participants saw photos of black faces and had two seconds to judge whether the people in these photographs were over the age of 21, they showed activity in the area of the brain called the amygdala, which indicates a high level of alertness and emotional arousal. In other words, they saw a threat.
But she discovered a neat trick to defusing this automatic fear response. In some cases, her research team asked the white participants to judge what sort of vegetable the people in the photos would prefer to eat. In those cases, where they were prompted to see the people as individuals with their own personal tastes and preferences, the amygdala activity looked the same as when participants saw white faces, suggesting that they were able to individuate, that is see the faces as individuals, rather than group them into a category perceived as “other.”
Unfortunately, the process of individuating has come under furious assault in recent years. More and more, elites in media and politics are encouraging us to think about ourselves as archetypes of groups rather than as individuals."
We're bombarded with demands that white people develop "white consciousness" when an honest, thinking person must know that this will lead to more racism, not less.
But it makes sense. If people started to view individualism as the cure for racism the entire intersectionality empire comes tumbling to the ground.
Is it possible that anyone who makes a living as a full time "Studies" professor was unaware of the second part of this study? Because I don't see how they could have been. Is anyone who studies race as their profession following up on this to find out the best ways of changing how people think about race?
Or are they writing another book about how white people are racist if they aren't racist enough?
Link to the study cited.
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