Prejudice May Stem From Fear of Other Groups

Humans are known for their tendency to divide society into groups. Most commonly, these groups fall into two simple categories, the ones that a certain individual is a part of, and another one to which he or she does not belong to. Some groups are formed through experiences, such as a group of friends, while others include people from birth (gender, ethnicity, skin color, etc.). A new research would seem to suggest that this tendency to form groups, even if only mentally, is one of the fundamental issues that generates racism and prejudice in society, ScienceNow reports.

People tend to view members of out-groups as inferior, or to be afraid of them, jealous, and so on. This type of behavior is very often not even rationalized, but comes from our primordial tendencies to form strong bonds with a relatively small group of other people, such as families, our closest circle of friends, or colleagues at work. Very often, we tend to see those that are radically different from us, in aspect or in thought, as not being “normal.” However, our values of “normality” may not apply in a different society, culture, or belief system, where groups have developed differently for millennia.

The new investigation seems to suggest that people who are not afraid of strangers tend not to stereotype or discriminate as much as those who are scared. The work was conducted on a number of children suffering from a rare genetic disorder. The condition essentially quells their fears of strangers, and the research demonstrated that this was a clear indicator of how the kids would behave when faced with potential real-life scenarios. Though the work was aimed to add additional evidence to the school of thought that says fear underlines prejudice, some experts wonder about the validity of the research.

An important discovery the team behind the investigation made was that social fear was not directly linked to gender stereotyping. In the experiments, children with Williams syndromes, and control subjects that were healthy, showed remarkable differences in their views of race, but similar results in their views on gender. This means that additional mechanisms may be at work to determine how people see men and women in various scenarios. The research group, led by Mannheim, Germany-based Central Institute of Mental Health psychiatrist Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg, published its findings in the April 12 online issue of the respected scientific journal Current Biology.