Racism Really Does Make You Stupid
Prejudice can diminish mental abilities, study finds

THURSDAY, May 8 (HealthScoutNews) -- People who are racist may suffer a temporary lapse in mental capacity after interacting with people who are members of a racial minority. Researchers from Princeton University and Dartmouth College found that white people with a high degree of racial basis experienced a decrease in "executive function" after spending time talking with black people. Their research appears in the May issue of Psychological Science.

Executive function is a key element of thought that involves the ability to fix attention on certain, high-level mental tasks.

The study included 59 white college students. They were given a test to assess the degree of racial bias in their thinking. The students then spent time talking with either a black or a white person and afterwards were given a test that measured their ability to concentrate on a challenging mental task.

The more racially biased the students were, the worse they did on the mental task after speaking with a black person. But racially biased students, who spoke with a white person, even if they discussed racially sensitive issues, had no decline in mental function.

"When you have to control your behavior, it takes a lot of energy. And if you expend energy in a social interaction, then you don't have so much left over to do something else," researcher Nicole Shelton says in a news release.

AI (Afro Interpretation)

One would think that Psychologist and researchers from prominent Universities have a relatively normal amount of common sense. This study proves that theory wrong. First, not only does this study show that the Psychologist and researchers themselves have experienced a lapse in "executive function", simply because they cannot see that it is a guilty conscience that slows mental reasoning and not extra energy.

In fact, extra energy adds to reasoning abilities, at least according to most health professional (and might I add from these same type Universities). But also, the researchers have just successfully subconsciously implanted into the minds of non-prejudice whites that talking to Blacks may quite possibly slow their ability to reason afterward, which confirms the lapse in the Psychologist and researchers "executive function".

If their intent is to appeal to the consciences of whites as pertaining to racism, and or to humiliate what appear to be ignorant bigots unaware of their personal prejudices, they have actually stumbled on a most ironic discovery. The fact is that these people (racist) are not unaware of their prejudices at all since they have to struggle to refrain from racist behavior in the first place. Thus, appealing to their consciences will not work since it is a guilty conscience they are struggling with in the first place.

When will University Psychologist and researchers see that it is these very type studies that breed racism throughout society.

© 2003 by AfroStaff