People with Williams Syndrome miss 26 cistron detect in a typical human genome . As a final result they are inordinately favorable , and experience no social anxiety . Now a new study reveals that they may also be free of racial preconception .
Over at Not Exactly Rocket Science , Ed Yong babble about the novel cogitation , published this week in Current Biology . Yong write :
Santos compare the demeanour of 20 snowy shaver with Williams syndrome , cured 7 to 16 , and 20 distinctive snowy fry of similar backgrounds and mental ages . To do so , she used a test call thePreschool Racial Attitude Measure(PRAM - II ) , which is designed to pester out trace of gender or racial biases in vernal children .
PRAM - II consists of a delineation book where every Sir Frederick Handley Page includes a duo of multitude of unlike gender or hide type . The researcher tells a selection of stories to accompany the images and the children have to point to the soul whom they cogitate the narration is about . As they hear positive or negative adjectives , they reveal any underlying racial prejudice if they place to light - skinned or dark - skinned multitude , or men or women , more often .
The distinctive children evince a strong tendency to view light - skinned people well and moody - skinned people poorly . Out of their reply , 83 % were consistent with a pro - white bias . In contrast , the fry with Williams syndrome only show such responses 64 % of the time , which was n’t significantly unlike from fortune .
So it would seem that removing societal fearfulness from the human emotional cooking stove might also cut down on racial discrimination . Though it ’s worth noting that it would n’t help with sexism , since Williams Syndrome kids scored nigh to distinctive tike when it came to gender bias .
Several other scientists took issue with this study , partly because the sample size was so minuscule ( just twenty kid ) . But there are also problem with the PRAM mental test , which limits baby to choosing either livid people or hoi polloi of color – there is no option to choose both , or “ either one . ” As University of Oregon ’s Aliya Saperstein direct out :
The effect do n’t demonstrate or examine an absence seizure of bias . And like all like tests , the study may solicit partly into one ’s knowledge of social stereotypes not just one ’s personal diagonal .
no matter , as Yong repoint out , we ’re allow for with further evidence – back up by functional magnetic resonance imaging studies – that racial bias and racism are connected to social fear . Now I ’m waiting for the study that show whether select anti - societal anxiousness med Xanax help extinguish racial bias too .
viaNot precisely Rocket Science
PsychologyScience
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