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The Neuroscience Behind Racism 

Aashika Duvoor

August 9, 2020          

 

          The human brain: the organ that controls every action, thought and breath that we make.  

It’s the largest and most complex organ in the human body. It's the fundamental basis for life —- and racism. If we’re going to fix the persistent cultural bias of racism, we need to take a closer look at the human brain. 

Racism is just a small part of a larger psychological phenomena called in-group bias. In other words, our brain is used to putting different things in different categories. For example, lettuce = food and red = color. The medial prefrontal cortex is activated during social categorization and defines which groups we place ourselves into.  Our brains have developed to adapt to complex social situations. In some situations, discriminating between people is vital to stay alive. For example, treating a serial killer how you would treat your mom, could lead to some problems. This same mechanism is the foundation, however, for racism.   On average, people feel less empathy toward those that belong to a different social group. This is important because empathy is one of the key solutions to preventing racists thoughts and actions. One interesting aspect of the in-group bias phenomena is that people perceive actions taken by them compared to those same actions taken by someone else in a different social group as very different.

Science shows that people who have an implicit bias have stranger electrical responses in an area of the brain known as the amygdala. The amygdala is  responsible for processing emotional stimuli and eliciting a fearful or anxious mental state. So racism occurs when a person sees someone of a different race and gets that “gut feeling” of being scared. 

 

So how do we fix this? 

 

          The truth is that we all make racial judgment, and to some extent this will never change. However, the brain has something called neural plasticity which can be defined as the ability to change its activity in response to stimuli by reorganizing its structure, functions, or connections. Positive experiences with people from different racial groups and focusing on eliminating the bias can form new synaptic connections and stimuli to take over those old racists thoughts. It takes a willingness to change. Remember this: while eliminating racism may be hard and will take a long time, it’s never going to be impossible. 

          People say that no one is born a racist, but the truth is actually a little bit more complicated than that. When babies are born, they don’t differentiate between people of different races. However, when they reach around 3 months old, they start to notice that their face doesn’t look like other people’s faces. Around this time is when the bias starts to form. This means that another way to eliminate racism is to not teach your children to be color-blind because the way of brains are wired, this is nearly impossible. Instead, acknowledge that everyone is not the same. We are a diverse species with different experiences and valuable points of view. 

 

Okay, but why should I care. Why do I need to understand the neuroscience behind racism? 

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          Incorporating curriculum regarding neuroscience and racism into police officer training could be instrumental in overhauling the existing racist justice system. Not only this, but understanding the neuroscience behind racism can make you more cautious and aware. It can also increase your empathy toward people of different social backgrounds. However, it will require effort on the parts of many people. 

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Eliminating racism: It’s not a matter of if, but when. 

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