Are you geneticallyprogramed to be

racist?

7 Daughters of Eve, fig. 2

From Science v298 12/20/02 pg 2381

•93-95% of genetic variation within population.

•3-5% of genetic variation occurs between populations.

Relationships of different people using mtDNA.

There is no genetic definition of race.

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

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

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

Active seeking of infoversusSubconscious scanning for threats

Are we evolutionarily adapted to detect certain threats?

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

Fig 1. Emotion Drives Attention: Detecting the Snake in the Grass (2001) J. of Ex. Psy., Vol. 130, No. 3, 466-478

Ability to detect snake or spider versus flower or mushroom

by grid position

Fig 1. Emotion Drives Attention: Detecting the Snake in the Grass (2001) J. of Ex. Psy., Vol. 130, No. 3, 466-478

Ability to detect snake or spider versus flower or mushroom

by grid position

Fig 2. Emotion Drives Attention: Detecting the Snake in the Grass (2001) J. of Ex. Psy., Vol. 130, No. 3, 466-478

Ability to detect snake or spider versus flower or mushroom is relatively quicker in a larger grid

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

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

Conditioned fear: snakes/spiders

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

Conditioned fear: race

Fig 2. The Role of Social Groups in the Persistence of Learned Fear (2005) SCIENCE 309 pg 785

Fear of other races:

Whites Blacks

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

Conditioned fear:

snakes/spiders race

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

My birthday is in April.

My birthday is in June.

My birthday is in August.

My birthday is in January.

My birthday is in July.

My birthday is in October.

My birthday is in May.

My birthdayis in February.

Can race be erased? Coalitional computation and social categorization (December 18, 2001) PNAS vol. 98 no. 26 pg 15387–15392

Random Statements

I like orange. Hook em’. I like to wear overalls.

Go Horns.I like to wear chaps.

I like Maroon.

Gig em’.

Go Aggies.

Can race be erased? Coalitional computation and social categorization (December 18, 2001) PNAS vol. 98 no. 26 pg 15387–15392

Coalition Membership

I like orange. Hook em’. I like to wear overalls.

Go Horns.I like to wear chaps.

I like Maroon.

Gig em’.

Go Aggies.

When alternate coalition membership information is introduced, race is ignored.

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