Kids With Rare Condition Lack Racial Prejudice

[Acturus]

http://health.msn.com/health-topics/...ntid=100256995

Kids With Rare Condition Lack Racial Prejudice
Children with Williams syndrome have no social fear and appear open, friendly to all, researchers say

-- Robert Preidt

TUESDAY, April 13 (HealthDay News) -- Children with a rare condition called Williams syndrome appear to lack social fear, and with it, racial prejudice, a new study shows.

The finding suggests that social fear may be the root cause of racial stereotyping.

French and German researchers examined the behaviors of children with Williams syndrome. These youngsters, who are missing about 26 genes on chromosome 7, are unusually friendly and gregarious because they don't have the sense of fear that other people feel in many social situations.

The study found that children with the syndrome did not make stereotypical judgments when shown pictures of people of different races. In contrast, a group of children without the syndrome displayed strong racial stereotyping when shown the same pictures.

"The unique hypersociable profile of individuals with Williams syndrome often leads them to consider that everybody in the world is their friend," study co-author Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg, of the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim, Germany, and the University of Heidelberg, said in a news release.

"In previous work, we have shown that processing of social threat is deficient in people with the syndrome," Meyer-Lindenberg said. "Based on this, we suspected that they would not show a particular preference for own-race versus other-race characters. The finding that racial stereotypes in children with Williams syndrome were completely absent was nevertheless surprising in its degree."

The study, published in the April 13 issue of Current Biology, is the first to report the absence of racial stereotyping in any human population, Meyer-Lindenberg said.

Along with lending support to the belief that social fear is at the root of racial stereotyping, the findings may help in efforts to develop interventions to reduce discrimination against vulnerable or marginalized people, the researchers said.

The Williams Syndrome Association has more about Williams syndrome.

SOURCE: Cell Press, news release, April 12, 2010
Copyright @2010 HealthDay. All Rights Reserved.

I'm just glad that this means my racism is genetic, and therefor, completely natural.

>.>

[Seanr]

Are they trolling?

[isladar]

FFS.

[Correction]

The only cure is to put those kids on the internet.

[Ksandra]

This is pretty old to be talking about...It's commonly known for people that work with William's syndrome kids, that it's a social "dysfunction". These are they types of kids that often get molested, because they don't grasp the concept of strangers can be dangerous.


You actually find most kids with William's, Downs, or austism, don't have any form of baseless discrimination, because of their social inhibitions.

[Abandon]

bullshit, a girl i dated has an autistic son, and he called me a nigger 80% of the time i saw him, and he was 4.

[ZarakiKujata]

bullshit, a girl i dated has an autistic son, and he called me a nigger 80% of the time i saw him, and he was 4.

Was he an aspie? Maybe his assburgers was all about being a racist?

[Chun Liroy]

lmao.

[Mizango]

This is pretty old to be talking about...It's commonly known for people that work with William's syndrome kids, that it's a social "dysfunction". These are they types of kids that often get molested, because they don't grasp the concept of strangers can be dangerous.


You actually find most kids with William's, Downs, or austism, don't have any form of baseless discrimination, because of their social inhibitions.

^ Ksandra basically summed up what I was about to say.

bullshit, a girl i dated has an autistic son, and he called me a nigger 80% of the time i saw him, and he was 4.

Smart kid. No seriously, you should have bust his head down to the white meat.

[Blarg]

I thought this was going to be an onion news story

[Day]

It's a rare condition, this day and age, to read any good news on the newspaper page.

[Tymon]

They need meds.

Just like we all do. I mean, everything should be medicated, right?

Just being alive should probably be classified as some sort of mental disorder by now

[Uzor]

Wasn't this an already known fact?

Social fear is something we have because it is beneficial to us. If we experience someone as different, or has previously had bad experience with people that look a certain way, we'll be more prone to avoid them. The same goes for places or situations as well.

[Tyche]

Ksandra hit it before I did, but this can be really dangerous. Profiling and stereotyping is needed to survive.

[Acturus]

Wasn't this an already known fact?

Social fear is something we have because it is beneficial to us. If we experience someone as different, or has previously had bad experience with people that look a certain way, we'll be more prone to avoid them. The same goes for places or situations as well.

Apparently it's well known for people who have had exposure to social disorders.

[Headspace]

Tyche is racist.

[Mizango]

Ksandra hit it before I did, but this can be really dangerous. Profiling and stereotyping is needed to survive.

You mean like profiling Bieber as a fgt? I still hate you btw.

[Abandon]

i didnt know if he had assburgers, he was a racist ass little boy and i punished his mother for his mouth.

[Mizango]

Tyche is racist.

Tell'em dawg.

[Tyche]

Imma tell ya one time.

Beiber is a god among 14 year old bi-curious boys.