Most of us suspect or realize that our brains have more to do with our behaviors than we know. And even if we’re clueless about that, science is always offering us new evidence to prove that many of the decisions we make, the addictions we have, the people we prefer (or not) are all related to our biology in some fashion. In terms of prejudice—large-scale prejudice, prejudice in the sense of someone being an outcast, being unlike our particular group–when we see folks whom we deem outcasts, an area of our brain goes silent.
Hi everyone. Cara Santa Maria here.
How do we become who we are, as people, with all of our quirks, our interests, our emotions and our flaws? And how do we choose who to call a friend? An enemy?
Well, as human beings we are constantly categorizing the world in an effort to identify threats. Evolutionary psychologists hypothesize that early Homo sapiens rarely came into contact with anyone who looked, sounded, or dressed differently.
Watch video on Prejudice in the Brain
Original article, “Prejudice in the Brain: Can You Break Your Biased Habits,” written by Cara Santa Maria and posted in the Huffington Post January 10, 2012.
Leave a Reply