Racism's Hiding Spot

Many people believe they are contributing to the end of racism by declaring they do not use racial bias. It has been shown now that this statement is not true for almost all of these people through newly developed tests that can reveal our hidden views. Our implicit racial views are actually displayed throughout our lives daily without us even knowing. These views are almost permanently stained into our brains like a survival mechanism.

Sources:

• "How Our Brain's Perceive Race" This is a reliable source because it includes an annotated bibliography and the author both took the test and declared his racist seeming results.
• Racial Implicit Bias
• "Race and American's Social Network" Article written by Public Relations Research Institute and sources all data it has to confirm accuracy.

What implicit racial views do people have and how are these expressed through or influenced by media?

The racism shown in media and even in the real world sometimes comes without people intentionally being racist due to our implicit views. These views actually come down to a connection we have made in our brain due to seeing it so frequently in our surroundings. Many of us are not aware of the racial prejudice that is stained into our judgement. The Race IAT Project by Harvard supplies an online test providing you with the racial bias you did not know you had. According to Chris Mooney, a white journalist, one test the questionnaire puts you through is pairing different races of faces with either good words or bad words. The rapid words become difficult to pair, but the game becomes easier when the time comes to pair black people with negative words. “When negative words and black faces are paired together, you’re a better, faster categorizer,” describes Mooney. Although many do not show explicit racial prejudice, it somehow is still a part of them. The reason Mooney gives for this is that “racially biased messages from the culture around you have shaped the very wiring of your brain.” The biased messages come from all aspects of your surrounding starting with your parents, your first influences, and the real world, where the media portrays a whole racial group in one specific way.

An example of a question on the Race IAT Project. Source

Psychologist Brian Nosek of the University of Virginia says the reason for this hidden bias comes down to a science. He describes how prejudice draws on “many of the same tools that help our minds figure out what’s good and what’s bad.” Our brain categorizes and essentializes, which many times is a good survival mechanism. For example, our brain just knows not to eat mushrooms off the ground and that grizzly bears are dangerous. This essentializing becomes bad when we essentialize race. Psychologist Susan Gelman of the University of Michigan told how our brain “automatically comes up with assumptions about their (racial groups) characteristics — characteristics that your brain perceives as unchanging and often rooted in biology.” Going back to the IAT test, since people have these automatic associations of traits with racial groups, the game becomes easier when you match negative things with the racial group who has negative traits associated with it.
So, how are these implicit racial biases shown at all in the real world? Despite these views being so called “hidden,” they really appear all around us and shape our lives everyday. Doctors, police officers, and bosses are just a few examples who are more likely to choose their preferred race they have in their minds, despite declaring themselves as non-racist. On social media specifically, implicit views are showing through your friends on social networks, like Facebook. A study by the Public Relation Research Institute showed how “Among white Americans, 91 percent of people comprising their social networks are also white, while five percent are identified as some other race.” Homogeneity is used to describe when a person’s friend group is made up entirely of a single race. The study reports about 75% of white people on social media have a homogeneous friend group. Media is a large part of our culture today and this is just a small example of how it influences and represents our views. It has contributed to the extreme difficulty it is to truly not be racist.

Possible Future Research Question: What effects do parents/upbringing have on racial biases? How does the language used affect our views towards race?