Posted on 03/09/2012 10:47:23 AM PST by Free ThinkerNY
Sure, it sounds crazy. But researchers at Oxford University believe that a common heart medication actually quells your subconscious prejudices.
We think of racism as "a product of our culture and of ignorance," says Cassie Murdoch at Jezebel. "But silly us, maybe all we really need to do is take a pill." That's what a team of Oxford University researchers concluded after giving volunteers propranolol, a beta blocker commonly used to treat heart disease, and finding that the test subjects who took the drug became less likely to exhibit "subconscious racism." Has science really stumbled upon a pill that can "cure racism"? Here's what you should know:
How was this study conducted? Experimental psychologist Sylvia Terbeck and her team gave two groups of 18 volunteers either a placebo or a dose of propranolol, then put them through a battery of tests designed to gauge racism, such as matching "positive and negative words and pictures of black and white individuals on a computer screen." More than a third of the propranolol takers scored negative, meaning they showed little subconscious racial bias; none of the placebo-takers scored negative.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
I’d rather see a pill that can cure liberalism.
I think there is an inherent ability for humans to identify differences, “us” versus “them”. This behavior was necessary with tribal or clans that were in conflict. Skin color is an obvious distinction but, having spent a fair amount of time in Asia, I can differentiate among Hmong, Japanese, Chinese, Khmer, Thai, Thai Yai, etc. We are attuned to recognize differences and suspect that different equals bad. Part of human nature.
Were any of the test subjects black? They keep telling us only white people are racist..........
If it would we should stuff bottles down Bo, moochelle, and holder, just to get started.
Propranolol is often used by musicians and other performers to prevent stage fright. It has been taken by surgeons to reduce their own innate hand tremors during surgery.
So, unconscious racism might be anxiety or panic based.
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