When Social Fear Is Missing, So Are Racial Stereotypes, Shows Study of Children W/ Williams Syndrome

[The Straight Story]

When Social Fear Is Missing, So Are Racial Stereotypes, Shows Study of Children With Williams Syndrome

ScienceDaily (Apr. 12, 2010) — Children with the genetic condition known as Williams syndrome have unusually friendly natures because they lack the sense of fear that the rest of us feel in many social situations. Now, a study reported in the April 13th issue of Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, suggests that children with Williams Syndrome are missing something else the rest of us have from a very tender age: the proclivity to stereotype others based on their race.

The findings support the notion that social fear is at the root of racial stereotypes. The researchers say the results might also aid in the development of interventions designed to reduce discriminatory attitudes and behavior towards vulnerable or marginalized groups of society.

"This is the first study to report the absence of racial stereotypes in any human population," said Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg of the Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim/University of Heidelberg, who coauthored the paper with Andreia Santos and Christine Deruelle of the Mediterranean Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience in Marseille.

Previous studies have shown that stereotypes are found ubiquitously in typically developing children -- as early as age 3 -- as they are in adults, Meyer-Lindenberg explained. Even children with autism display racial stereotypes, despite profound difficulties in daily social interaction and a general failure to show adapted social knowledge.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100412124952.htm

[rug]

1. Fascinating stuff.

Fear = racism.

I wonder if fear's relation to war-mongering has been studied.

[Odin2005]

2. "Even children with autism display racial stereotypes" WHAT!?! I NEVER displayed racial stereotypes.

I thought my Asperger's was a large part of the reason I'm NOT a bigot, I see individuals, not stereotypes. All stereotypes are social conventions with no objective basis outside of those conventions, and those of us on the spectrum are notoriously bad when it comes to social conventions.

This study is completely the opposite of what I would expect. I would have expected people with Williams Syndrome to have "Neurotypical" levels of stereotypes, while autistic people would have fewer stereotypes and the stereotypes that are there would be more idiosyncratic and unrelated to common societal stereotypes.