Heart disease drug 'combats racism'

[Jazzy]

A common heart disease drug may have the unusual side-effect of combating racism, a new study suggests.

Volunteers given the beta-blocker, used to treat chest pains and lower heart rates, scored lower on a standard psychological test of implicit racist attitudes.



They appeared to be less racially prejudiced at a subconscious level than another group treated with a dummy placebo pill.



Scientists believe the discovery can be explained by the fact that racism is fundamentally founded on fear.



Propranolol acts both on nerve circuits that govern automatic functions such as heart rate, and the part of the brain involved in fear and emotional responses. The drug is also used to treat anxiety and panic.



Experimental psychologist Dr Sylvia Terbeck, from Oxford University, who led the study published in the journal Psychopharmacology, said: Our results offer new evidence about the processes in the brain that shape implicit racial bias.



Full article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9128888/Heart-disease-drug-combats-racism.html



Question: What are your thoughts on this?

 

[Fatal Dawn]

This is a strange fruit. Nature or nurture. Biology or socialization. Somehow I feel that there is no need to make things so complicated.



The way I see it prejudice is based on experience. If people are biased it is either because of two things:



1. They simply have had no experiences to change their way of thinking or

2. It is because their way of thinking was already changed by negative experiences



But that's just my own personal view of it..

 

[Jazzy]

Scientists believe the discovery can be explained by the fact that racism is fundamentally founded on fear.

What a crock of crap that statement is! Racism is not founded on fear, it's founded on ignorance!

 

[Evil Eye]

Right... I'm not buying it.

Although I suppose someone drugged out of their minds is less likely to say anything.

it's founded on ignorance!

Sure, but what do you think that begets?

Better to be safe than sorry, fearing something you don't know is a fairly understandable response. (This unrelated to the whole racism thing. One should realise they're the same.)

 

[Bluezone777]

Actually racism alongside the rest of the isms are based in both fear and ignorance. Unfortunately, there is no pill available to cure stupid or someone would have made a truckload of money from making and selling it.