Psychologists have long known that most humans harbor an inherent mistrust of outsiders which likely evolved during the tribal past of the species, in which in-group/out-group attitudes may have served the purpose of cohering family groups and fostering cooperation between kin. Because of the complex nature of racism, which to some extent stems from the contemplation of one's own self-image and mortality, some researchers believed that only human beings were capable of such feelings, but recent research with rhesus monkeys suggests that a rudimentary outsider bias is present in humans' closest relatives.
Implicit Association Test
Humans' deep-seated prejudices are measured using the Implicit Association Test, or IAT. This test measures how quickly subjects associate positive or negative words with pictures of people of the same or different races as themselves. Results of these tests on humans show that nearly everyone harbors some measure of outsider bias, even if subjects are unaware of it.
A team of psychologists at Yale designed a monkey-specific version of the IAT test and took it to Cayo Santiago island, which is the home of a large population of rhesus monkeys and is uninhabited by humans. The monkey IAT test paired pictures of positive things (such as fruit) and negative things (such as spiders) with pictures of insider and outsider monkeys, then measured the monkeys' reactions to the various pairings.
Researchers discovered that the monkeys paid far more attention to pictures of outsider monkeys when paired with pictures of fruits, or insider monkeys paired with spiders. When positive images were paired with insider monkeys, the subjects lost interest. This would seem to suggest that the monkeys were confused by the pairing of something they deemed positive with something they deemed negative, but were not fazed when positive images were paired together.
Insider and Outsider Faces
In a separate test, the monkeys were also found to stare much longer at photographs of monkeys from outside their own groups. To rule out the possibility that this finding stemmed from simple curiosity, the researchers showed the monkeys pictures of other monkeys that had once been insiders but had left the group, presuming that since the subjects knew the monkeys they would not be considered outsiders, even though they had since left the group. But the subjects stared at these presumably familiar monkeys just as long as they stared at monkeys that were complete strangers. This suggests that some form of bias between groups is the likely cause.
Bias and the Roots of Racism
Racist attitudes among humans are likely an extension of this simple, evolutionary insider/outsider bias. Researchers are quick to point out, however, that just because these attitudes are largely inherent does not mean that they cannot be changed, and indeed studies have shown that racist attitudes are reduced as people are made more aware of their own innate prejudices.
Sources
- Grewal, Daisy. "The Evolution of Prejudice." Scientific American. 5 Apr. 2011. Web. 12 Apr. 2011. scientificamerican.com.
Jenny Ashford - Jenny Ashford is a writer and graphic artist from central Florida. Her main area of interest in her Suite 101 articles is science, with a ...
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