Children who form no racial stereotypes found

[christiangirl]

Sooooo if kids aren't afraid of strangers and don't form prejudices about other races, they have a neurological disorder?

Silly me, I thought that was called "acceptance."

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by christiangirl

Silly me, I thought that was called "acceptance."

I call it "alien life form."

All humans have prejudices and stereotypes (even if they are passing thoughts where people immediately correct themselves) regardless of whether it is based on race, gender, social class, sexual orientation, handicap, etc. It doesn't mean all humans are bad. It simply means that socialization, perception, and identifiability of the "other" matter. It doesn't become a bad thing until it becomes pathological and/or goes beyond thought and into action (i.e. discrimination).

[christiangirl]

Then let me make a correction. The article says "...scientists now report the first group of people who seem not to form racial stereotypes." It later takes out the "seem" and just "do not form negative attitudes about other ethnic groups."

Speaking to the former "seem", I take this to mean that even if they are internally forming these prejudices, the prejudices are either positive or, if they are negative, are not strong enough to the point where the children physically act on them (i.e., show fear/disdain/etc when presented with a person of a particular race). Given an open, accepting environment, any child act this way. I know that the word "disorder" and "abnormal" are not necessarily bad within a scientific context; nevertheless, to say that children who fail to display fear or form negative stereotypes against other races possible do so because of abnormal brain activity just sounds off.

I'd be interested to know the demographics (age, SES, race, location) of these kids and the racial stereotyping their parents/guardians display. Also, that blurb says that the kids didn't form "negative" racial biases--did any of them form positive ones?

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by christiangirl

Then let me make a correction. The article says "...scientists now report the first group of people who seem not to form racial stereotypes." It later takes out the "seem" and just "do not form negative attitudes about other ethnic groups."

Speaking to the former "seem", I take this to mean that even if they are internally forming these prejudices, the prejudices are either positive or, if they are negative, are not strong enough to the point where the children physically act on them (i.e., show fear/disdain/etc when presented with a person of a particular race). Given an open, accepting environment, any child act this way. I know that the word "disorder" and "abnormal" are not necessarily bad within a scientific context; nevertheless, to say that children who fail to display fear or form negative stereotypes against other races possible do so because of abnormal brain activity just sounds off.

I'd be interested to know the demographics (age, SES, race, location) of these kids and the racial stereotyping their parents/guardians display. Also, that blurb says that the kids didn't form "negative" racial biases--did any of them form positive ones?

Yeah I already said this is BULLSHIT.