Subtle Racism Harasses Brain

[ThomCat]

http://www.webmd.com/brain/news/20070921/subtle-racism-harasses-brain?src=RSS_PUBLIC

Subtle racism interferes with black people's mental function even more than overt racism does, a psychological study shows.

For whites, who are much less often the targets of prejudice, overt racism interferes with mental function more.

"It appears that blacks are particularly vulnerable to cognitive impairment resulting from exposure to ambiguous prejudice -- a level of prejudice whites may not even register," conclude Princeton University psychologists Jessica Salvatore, PhD, and J. Nicole Shelton, PhD.

....

It's interesting how they conducted this study, and very interesting that that white people in this test either
1. Didn't notice the subtle racism, or
2. Didn't care about it enough to be bothered.

[ThomCat]

1. Kick, because there are 60 views and not one comment.

:shrug:

[La Lioness Priyanka]

2. its very interesting research

you know how people tell people that they 'see bigotry where none exists' research like this proves that those who face more bigotry can see the more subtle shades of it.

[ThomCat]

3. That was exactly my thought too.

But I'm not discounting the other possibility. They might see the bigotry, but just don't think it's big enough or important enough to worry about. i.e. "That's just small shit. If you can't handle the small shit then maybe you're the one with the problem."

People definitely have a way of dismissing or belittling problems that only happen to other people. :(

[La Lioness Priyanka]

4. this is true too. but its very imaginative research design too.

[Warpy]

6. No kidding, like when white folks get waited on at the

deli counter ahead of black folks. The times I've indicated a person of color had been there first, both the counter person and the person of color have been astounded.

So yeah, it exists and it's all around us and it pervades everything.

[Solly Mack]

5. Thanks for posting

[La Lioness Priyanka]

7. you should cross post in the lounge. the lounge maybe interested and they arent having an iran day

[Gormy Cuss]

8. Interesting, and it makes sense to me.

Constantly being on guard is taxing for the brain. Having life experiences where subtle racism have been a part, it's best to approach situations looking for it.

It brought to mind an anthropological study by Nancy Scheper-Hughes (Saints, Scholars, and Schizophrenics) on the high rate of mental illness in remote western Ireland, an area where people had lived with a set of economic and social conditions that were down right desperate and had been for generations.

[ThomCat]

10. I was looking in that article for any mention

of that. I think you're right that it's the effect of noting something and then being on sustained alert.

I wasn't really expecting them to get into enough detail though. Simple research, one step at a time. I'm sure future research will try to elaborate on the why's and what for's.

[Gormy Cuss]

12. I think there's no mention because the conclusion isn't supported by the data.

It does need far more exhaustive research to come close to suggesting such a link. Me, no one's paying for the opinion but it's something that I've thought about before.

[knitter4democracy]

9. Interesting. I'll have to read it.

I'm wondering what their definitions of overt and subtle were.

[NOLALady]

11. Thanks.

The results are in no way a surprise.