Prejudice
Prejudice, an assumption made about others which is usually not based on any reason or true experience, is an enduring issue in the United States. People in the U.S face prejudice on the basis of race, gender, political affiliation, and immigration status just to name a few of the many recipients. Most of today’s prejudice is seen through everyday stereotyping: making inferences about individuals based on groups with whom they identify (Schacter et al., 2020). Some common stereotypes include incompetence because one is elderly, cold and competent because one is wealthy (Schacter et al., 2020), and prone to criminal behavior due to the color of one's skin. Although these stereotypes are generally untrue, people seem to form these associations about others depending on the groups they come from. This is where the idea of in-groups and out-groups come into play. Individuals tend to favor groups that they belong to (in-group) more than groups they don’t belong to (out-group), even if it is as simple as “group 1” or “group 2” (Schacter et al., 2020).
Racism
Racism refers to discrimination and prejudice faced by an individual due to their race/ethnicity and/or the color of their skin. Multiple forms of racism in the US include but are not limited to systematic racism against Black Americans and xenophobia. Black Americans were heavily discriminated against in America’s near past and although they no longer face mass segregation, they still face racism and the effects of prior racism. We can see this in action through various cases of police brutality as in the case of George Floyd as recently as 2020 as well as harmful stereotypes of the Black community. In recent years, as seen through the Covid-19 pandemic, Black Americans have been the most susceptible to and affected by the virus (Milner et al., 2020). High mortality rates among Black Americans due to Covid-19 can be related to racism and discrimination because a lot of Black households face immense poverty and are unable to acquire necessary resources like healthcare. Black Americans are subjected to discrimination in largely white institutions including schools, healthcare, and real estate which contribute to their increased rates of poverty which also relate to their high mortality rates during the pandemic (Milner et al., 2020). Furthermore, due to common stereotypes, Black Americans also face higher incarceration rates in the U.S compared to other races (Milner et al., 2020). Another type of racism, xenophobia, has also been rampant in the U.S. During the pandemic, Asian hate crimes have increased in that “more than 2,100 anti-Asian hate incidents” were related to Covid-19 (Donaghue, 2020). In the past, 100,000 Japanese citizens in the U.S were placed in concentration camps as a result of anti-Japanese sentiment due to the bombing of Pearl Harbor as well (Zhang et al., 2022). Overall, discrimination and prejudice can have fatal consequences and the removal of these biases over time and across generations is crucial.
Sexism
Unlike racism, sexism is a form of prejudice in which an individual is discriminated against due to their sex and gender. This form of prejudice can be seen through the wage gaps between men and women across different fields of work. In family medicine for instance, an online study was conducted by Jabbarpour et al. (2022) where a sample of 2,371 male and female family physicians were asked about their hours worked and income earned. The authors found that female physicians earned $79 per hour while males earned $94 per hour even though statistically “female physicians [had] better patient outcomes.” Further discrimination can be seen through studies of gender stereotyping which consists of assigning gender roles; for example, that women should be the ones to stay home with children while men go out to work. These types of stereotypes are also harmful to individuals as they can stunt one’s potential to succeed as seen through a concept called stereotype threat. Stereotype threat suggests that an individual will try to act a certain way in order to avoid conforming to negative stereotypes, though in doing so, ironically end up fulfilling the stereotype (Schacter et al 2020).
Classism and Other Forms of Discrimination
Another common type of prejudice exists as classism or discrimination against an individual due to their socioeconomic status. Classism can be harmful to individuals because it can deprive them of certain opportunities. One example lies in college admissions. Looking towards SATs, the standardized admissions test can give an unfair advantage to those of higher socioeconomic status due to the high costs of tutoring or study materials. Students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds may be unable to afford the materials necessary to do well on the exam. On college campuses, students may feel inferior or excluded from certain activities or benefits if they are from lower income households compared to their upper-class peers (Olsen, 2022).
The above stated biases often arise in the very early stages of life which gives rise to the importance of implementing diversity education for young children. To help alleviate this problem of social prejudice and stereotyping, teachers across all grade levels, especially earlier grades, should provide students with adequate diversity education mandated by the government. This could be through educating children about different cultures and customs, correctly teaching students the history of the U.S as well as the impacts of this history on current events, and/or teaching children the reality behind stereotyping in order to help them acquire mindfulness. But what causes this prejudice? How did it become so ingrained in American society? Is it learned and can it be unlearned? Who is to blame for the rise of prejudice? All of these questions can be answered through neuroscience, namely, the study of neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to physically change in response to new experiences. A possible solution to help citizens unlearn these prejudices is through better understanding and applying the concepts of neuroplasticity, mainly by teachers in an educational setting.
Humans begin categorizing others based on differences like gender and ethnicity very early on in their childhood (Reisfeld, 2013). However, negative associations and harmful stereotypes are learned through experience and exposure. This learning state begins in adolescence as young people learn and develop much quicker than adults who have already developed brains. Before the age of three years old, children often recognize their families as parts of their own group or identity (Bergen, 2014) and this creates the foundation for their learned prejudices as the attitudes and experiences of family is what will drive the prejudices and social impressions of the child from an early age. This means that if parents or close family members show signs of racial prejudices, their children can potentially adopt those same beliefs. Additionally, if family members were harmed or looked down upon by a certain community, children can develop prejudice against that specific group/class based on that negative experience in their early childhood. We can venture into this idea by looking at children with traumatic childhood experiences. In a study conducted by Cigdem Yumbul, Seyma Cavusoglu, and Birgul Geyimci, participants who faced different types of childhood traumas including physical/emotional abuse, physical/emotional neglect, and sexual abuse, were given a childhood trauma questionnaire (CTQ) to test the correlation between these attachment issues to issues like infidelity tendency. The results conclude that adults who had healthy attachments to their caregivers at a young age were able to develop healthy relationships with their significant others and peers in the future; however, adults who faced emotional/physical abuse from their caregivers at a young age found it more difficult to make these connections (Yumbil et al., 2010). Another study about infant attachment styles —including secure, ambivalent, avoidant, and disorganized styles — followed participants throughout their lifetime and found that those who had secure attachment styles with their primary caregiver found it easier to resolve conflicts in future relationships (Simpson et al., 2007). As shown by these studies, the impacts of childhood experiences transfer into the actions and behaviors of adults, and in this case, prejudices formed at an early age transfer over into adulthood if not eliminated quickly. What is the neurological basis for this? Neuroplasticity.
Neuroplasticity embodies the fact that the brain changes physically as a result of lived experiences. In young children, namely those of two years of age and younger, each neuron in the brain will have more than 7,500 connections, a number that will continue to grow as the child ages (Mundkur, 2005). These connections are not all kept, however — some of them are “pruned” while others are not. Connections that are continually stimulated are strengthened as explained by long term potentiation (LTP), which explains that connections between neurons are strengthened if those neurons that communicated in the past and frequently as compared to those that have not. Hebb's rule explains the process of preserving and pruning as “neurons that fire together, wire together” (Mundkur, 2005). This entails that if neurons fire/activate at the same time, their connections are strengthened and thus preserved unlike those that don’t which will then be pruned. Using this idea, it can be stated that if the child is exposed to an idea or belief continually, that idea or belief will be learned and ingrained into the child; however, beliefs that are not continually exposed will not leave too much impact on the child. For example, in a household where parents and guardians are xenophobic, the child will most likely adopt the xenophobia as a result of prolonged exposure to it compared to a child who has not experienced the same ordeal (Bergen, 2014).
Neuroplasticity does its best work in the critical points of a human’s life. These critical points are usually in a human’s early life as the brain continues to develop through the age of 20. During this time, the brain is most susceptible to change, also known as rewiring (Mundkur, 2005). In order to understand how effective neuroplasticity will be in relation to reducing prejudice, its effectiveness in treating severe conditions like schizophrenia and depression can be considered. In patients with schizophrenia, the volume of gray matter in their brains differs from that of a healthy person; however, it is possible for this area to thicken. In another case, a neurotrophic factor known as serum- BDNF is low for patients facing depression and bipolar disorder but is capable of being increased (Morgan, 2008). These examples indicate that neuroplasticity and the rewiring of the brain is possible for severe conditions and such rewiring can be used in a similar way to treat ingrained prejudice starting at an early age and even in adolescents. In order to rewire the brain, people must be subject to activities that will help in the rewiring process. As stated by Steven Morgan, “playing a piano and just thinking about playing a piano affect the brain in virtually the same way, as long as you are engaged,” (Morgan, 2008). This entails that even thinking about/focusing on an activity or idea enough can help rewire and reconstruct the brain (Schwartz & Begley, 2002). Using this method in children can be beneficial in deconstructing social prejudice.
By subjecting children to ideas of equality between races, genders, and classes at an earlier age, the prejudices that they possibly formed due to the beliefs and actions of their caregivers can be deconstructed. Returning to the child in a xenophobic family example, when in school or outdoor setting, if they are encouraged to positively interact with children and people of races other than their own, they may develop a different idea on those racial groups. As children are not born with negative racial prejudices, further supported by the blank state hypothesis (children are born with no innate knowledge of the world but are to learn about it through experience), it is possible for positive interactions with various groups of individuals to create positive beliefs and impressions of those groups. Even without these interactions, even the positive attitude that children can adopt from their teachers in an educational setting can serve as enough to deconstruct such prejudices. One theory that supports this conclusion is Contact Theory. This theory works with LTP because it is based around extended exposure to diverse groups of people. This theory was seen in action through a study published in the Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning which explained that there is a “positive correlation between classrooms that introduces elements of contact theory and reduces levels of colorblindness and acknowledgement of racial social justice issues” (Conner & Erickson, 2017; Tristano, 2021). Helen Tristano (2021) also suggests that the principals of contact theory should be introduced to students of lower age groups (elementary/middle school) as their brains have higher neuroplasticity than those of adults. In studies like these, it is important to note that the role of neuroplasticity is to be able to better accommodate new information, especially in terms of social interaction relating to prejudice and stereotypes. Children and adolescents can quickly and effectively adapt to new information about different cultures and categories of people and long-term exposure to these groups or information about these groups through methods like mandatory discussions on race and culture is crucial in benefiting from the neuroplasticity in children. If they have already been exposed to false stereotypes due to their upbringing or lack of diversity, diversity education provided by teachers in an educational setting can help children learn new perspectives and alter the way they see others and the world around them.
Furthermore, we can look to the race war between Black and White Americans. A child from a heavily conservative white family for instance, can develop prejudice for Black Americans as a result of their parents’ beliefs and attitudes towards that group of people, however, if the child is then subject to positive teachings about Black Americans from other role models, like teachers, and are presented with a positive attitude about them continually, they will be better able to differentiate between the two beliefs and begin to deconstruct their ingrained prejudice.
In this case, mindfulness is brought into play. Mindfulness is being conscious of one’s own thoughts and attitudes. For example, an individual who is exposed to thoughts that judge a particular group of people by their skin tone or geographical origin, they can be aware of these thoughts and “not get lost in the content of the thought” (Klein et al., 2019). If children or individuals can be taught to be mindful of their own judgements and refute ill judgments about others, they can slowly rewire their brains to no longer accept such judgements. These practices fall under a method known as Self Directed Neuroplasticity (SDN) which, in a study done by Tim Klein, Beth Kendall, and Theresa Tougas (2019), showed positive effects on individuals’ relationships with others. Each participant in the study was interviewed on their use of the different types of SDN techniques, including mindfulness and the impact it left on their disorders like depression and their relationships with others. One participant expressed that their use of SDN helped change them which in turn affected the people around them and bettered their relationships with them. Results such as these show positive prospects for the use of SDN in rewiring the human brain to deconstruct internalized and externalized racism. In an educational setting, teachers should expose students, especially in earlier grades, to differing perspectives of stereotypes. Instead of expressing generic social beliefs, teachers should teach children about existing stereotypes and debunk these stereotypes for children to change these perspectives within themselves. In the future, if students find themselves starting to give into such stereotypes, they can remember these new perspectives and be more mindful of their judgements about others, reducing the amount of prejudice that is expressed. This is a form of neuroplasticity because by introducing these new concepts and ideas to children and adolescents, their brains are rewiring to accommodate these new perspectives and information especially through LTP.
In an educational setting, educators should be encouraged to show positive attitudes towards different races, classes, and sexes to serve as a good model for their students and impressionable youth. In order to do this, teachers should undergo mindfulness training to prevent extending existing biases to their students. In both teachers and students, when mindfulness is employed, mindfulness helps to “modulate” “the brain’s prefrontal cortex or cerebral zone recognized for racial biases,” by activating the amygdala (Porter, 2021). Additionally, mindfulness meditation can impact the size of the amygdala, strengthen memory center nerve tissues, and “override impulses, and interrupt mental narratives,” (Porter, 2021; Aguilar, 2019; Davidson & McEwen, 2012; Swanson, 2020). Structural changes such as these caused by mindfulness corroborate the fact that neuroplasticity is a very effective tool in potentially decreasing prejudice at earlier ages. Teachers can use mindfulness to “rewire” their brains and stop themselves from falling into their biases. The teachers can then effectively teach students new perspectives in relation to race and culture in order to break stereotypes in children and introduce them to social diversity.
Conclusion
Prejudice is a largely enduring issue in the U.S and can potentially be decreased by utilizing neuroplasticity. Teachers should be mandated to teach students about social diversity and culture as well as introduce ideas and perspectives that go against harmful stereotypes in order to teach children mindfulness. The use of this technique is beneficial for both teachers and students because mindfulness/neuroplasticity can help “rewire” the brains of children and adolescents so they can grow up mostly without the harmful prejudices that are present today.
About the Author
Orne Akter is a rising sophomore at Harvard College, concentrating in Neuroscience.
References
Prejudice, an assumption made about others which is usually not based on any reason or true experience, is an enduring issue in the United States. People in the U.S face prejudice on the basis of race, gender, political affiliation, and immigration status just to name a few of the many recipients. Most of today’s prejudice is seen through everyday stereotyping: making inferences about individuals based on groups with whom they identify (Schacter et al., 2020). Some common stereotypes include incompetence because one is elderly, cold and competent because one is wealthy (Schacter et al., 2020), and prone to criminal behavior due to the color of one's skin. Although these stereotypes are generally untrue, people seem to form these associations about others depending on the groups they come from. This is where the idea of in-groups and out-groups come into play. Individuals tend to favor groups that they belong to (in-group) more than groups they don’t belong to (out-group), even if it is as simple as “group 1” or “group 2” (Schacter et al., 2020).
Racism
Racism refers to discrimination and prejudice faced by an individual due to their race/ethnicity and/or the color of their skin. Multiple forms of racism in the US include but are not limited to systematic racism against Black Americans and xenophobia. Black Americans were heavily discriminated against in America’s near past and although they no longer face mass segregation, they still face racism and the effects of prior racism. We can see this in action through various cases of police brutality as in the case of George Floyd as recently as 2020 as well as harmful stereotypes of the Black community. In recent years, as seen through the Covid-19 pandemic, Black Americans have been the most susceptible to and affected by the virus (Milner et al., 2020). High mortality rates among Black Americans due to Covid-19 can be related to racism and discrimination because a lot of Black households face immense poverty and are unable to acquire necessary resources like healthcare. Black Americans are subjected to discrimination in largely white institutions including schools, healthcare, and real estate which contribute to their increased rates of poverty which also relate to their high mortality rates during the pandemic (Milner et al., 2020). Furthermore, due to common stereotypes, Black Americans also face higher incarceration rates in the U.S compared to other races (Milner et al., 2020). Another type of racism, xenophobia, has also been rampant in the U.S. During the pandemic, Asian hate crimes have increased in that “more than 2,100 anti-Asian hate incidents” were related to Covid-19 (Donaghue, 2020). In the past, 100,000 Japanese citizens in the U.S were placed in concentration camps as a result of anti-Japanese sentiment due to the bombing of Pearl Harbor as well (Zhang et al., 2022). Overall, discrimination and prejudice can have fatal consequences and the removal of these biases over time and across generations is crucial.
Sexism
Unlike racism, sexism is a form of prejudice in which an individual is discriminated against due to their sex and gender. This form of prejudice can be seen through the wage gaps between men and women across different fields of work. In family medicine for instance, an online study was conducted by Jabbarpour et al. (2022) where a sample of 2,371 male and female family physicians were asked about their hours worked and income earned. The authors found that female physicians earned $79 per hour while males earned $94 per hour even though statistically “female physicians [had] better patient outcomes.” Further discrimination can be seen through studies of gender stereotyping which consists of assigning gender roles; for example, that women should be the ones to stay home with children while men go out to work. These types of stereotypes are also harmful to individuals as they can stunt one’s potential to succeed as seen through a concept called stereotype threat. Stereotype threat suggests that an individual will try to act a certain way in order to avoid conforming to negative stereotypes, though in doing so, ironically end up fulfilling the stereotype (Schacter et al 2020).
Classism and Other Forms of Discrimination
Another common type of prejudice exists as classism or discrimination against an individual due to their socioeconomic status. Classism can be harmful to individuals because it can deprive them of certain opportunities. One example lies in college admissions. Looking towards SATs, the standardized admissions test can give an unfair advantage to those of higher socioeconomic status due to the high costs of tutoring or study materials. Students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds may be unable to afford the materials necessary to do well on the exam. On college campuses, students may feel inferior or excluded from certain activities or benefits if they are from lower income households compared to their upper-class peers (Olsen, 2022).
The above stated biases often arise in the very early stages of life which gives rise to the importance of implementing diversity education for young children. To help alleviate this problem of social prejudice and stereotyping, teachers across all grade levels, especially earlier grades, should provide students with adequate diversity education mandated by the government. This could be through educating children about different cultures and customs, correctly teaching students the history of the U.S as well as the impacts of this history on current events, and/or teaching children the reality behind stereotyping in order to help them acquire mindfulness. But what causes this prejudice? How did it become so ingrained in American society? Is it learned and can it be unlearned? Who is to blame for the rise of prejudice? All of these questions can be answered through neuroscience, namely, the study of neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to physically change in response to new experiences. A possible solution to help citizens unlearn these prejudices is through better understanding and applying the concepts of neuroplasticity, mainly by teachers in an educational setting.
Humans begin categorizing others based on differences like gender and ethnicity very early on in their childhood (Reisfeld, 2013). However, negative associations and harmful stereotypes are learned through experience and exposure. This learning state begins in adolescence as young people learn and develop much quicker than adults who have already developed brains. Before the age of three years old, children often recognize their families as parts of their own group or identity (Bergen, 2014) and this creates the foundation for their learned prejudices as the attitudes and experiences of family is what will drive the prejudices and social impressions of the child from an early age. This means that if parents or close family members show signs of racial prejudices, their children can potentially adopt those same beliefs. Additionally, if family members were harmed or looked down upon by a certain community, children can develop prejudice against that specific group/class based on that negative experience in their early childhood. We can venture into this idea by looking at children with traumatic childhood experiences. In a study conducted by Cigdem Yumbul, Seyma Cavusoglu, and Birgul Geyimci, participants who faced different types of childhood traumas including physical/emotional abuse, physical/emotional neglect, and sexual abuse, were given a childhood trauma questionnaire (CTQ) to test the correlation between these attachment issues to issues like infidelity tendency. The results conclude that adults who had healthy attachments to their caregivers at a young age were able to develop healthy relationships with their significant others and peers in the future; however, adults who faced emotional/physical abuse from their caregivers at a young age found it more difficult to make these connections (Yumbil et al., 2010). Another study about infant attachment styles —including secure, ambivalent, avoidant, and disorganized styles — followed participants throughout their lifetime and found that those who had secure attachment styles with their primary caregiver found it easier to resolve conflicts in future relationships (Simpson et al., 2007). As shown by these studies, the impacts of childhood experiences transfer into the actions and behaviors of adults, and in this case, prejudices formed at an early age transfer over into adulthood if not eliminated quickly. What is the neurological basis for this? Neuroplasticity.
Neuroplasticity embodies the fact that the brain changes physically as a result of lived experiences. In young children, namely those of two years of age and younger, each neuron in the brain will have more than 7,500 connections, a number that will continue to grow as the child ages (Mundkur, 2005). These connections are not all kept, however — some of them are “pruned” while others are not. Connections that are continually stimulated are strengthened as explained by long term potentiation (LTP), which explains that connections between neurons are strengthened if those neurons that communicated in the past and frequently as compared to those that have not. Hebb's rule explains the process of preserving and pruning as “neurons that fire together, wire together” (Mundkur, 2005). This entails that if neurons fire/activate at the same time, their connections are strengthened and thus preserved unlike those that don’t which will then be pruned. Using this idea, it can be stated that if the child is exposed to an idea or belief continually, that idea or belief will be learned and ingrained into the child; however, beliefs that are not continually exposed will not leave too much impact on the child. For example, in a household where parents and guardians are xenophobic, the child will most likely adopt the xenophobia as a result of prolonged exposure to it compared to a child who has not experienced the same ordeal (Bergen, 2014).
Neuroplasticity does its best work in the critical points of a human’s life. These critical points are usually in a human’s early life as the brain continues to develop through the age of 20. During this time, the brain is most susceptible to change, also known as rewiring (Mundkur, 2005). In order to understand how effective neuroplasticity will be in relation to reducing prejudice, its effectiveness in treating severe conditions like schizophrenia and depression can be considered. In patients with schizophrenia, the volume of gray matter in their brains differs from that of a healthy person; however, it is possible for this area to thicken. In another case, a neurotrophic factor known as serum- BDNF is low for patients facing depression and bipolar disorder but is capable of being increased (Morgan, 2008). These examples indicate that neuroplasticity and the rewiring of the brain is possible for severe conditions and such rewiring can be used in a similar way to treat ingrained prejudice starting at an early age and even in adolescents. In order to rewire the brain, people must be subject to activities that will help in the rewiring process. As stated by Steven Morgan, “playing a piano and just thinking about playing a piano affect the brain in virtually the same way, as long as you are engaged,” (Morgan, 2008). This entails that even thinking about/focusing on an activity or idea enough can help rewire and reconstruct the brain (Schwartz & Begley, 2002). Using this method in children can be beneficial in deconstructing social prejudice.
By subjecting children to ideas of equality between races, genders, and classes at an earlier age, the prejudices that they possibly formed due to the beliefs and actions of their caregivers can be deconstructed. Returning to the child in a xenophobic family example, when in school or outdoor setting, if they are encouraged to positively interact with children and people of races other than their own, they may develop a different idea on those racial groups. As children are not born with negative racial prejudices, further supported by the blank state hypothesis (children are born with no innate knowledge of the world but are to learn about it through experience), it is possible for positive interactions with various groups of individuals to create positive beliefs and impressions of those groups. Even without these interactions, even the positive attitude that children can adopt from their teachers in an educational setting can serve as enough to deconstruct such prejudices. One theory that supports this conclusion is Contact Theory. This theory works with LTP because it is based around extended exposure to diverse groups of people. This theory was seen in action through a study published in the Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning which explained that there is a “positive correlation between classrooms that introduces elements of contact theory and reduces levels of colorblindness and acknowledgement of racial social justice issues” (Conner & Erickson, 2017; Tristano, 2021). Helen Tristano (2021) also suggests that the principals of contact theory should be introduced to students of lower age groups (elementary/middle school) as their brains have higher neuroplasticity than those of adults. In studies like these, it is important to note that the role of neuroplasticity is to be able to better accommodate new information, especially in terms of social interaction relating to prejudice and stereotypes. Children and adolescents can quickly and effectively adapt to new information about different cultures and categories of people and long-term exposure to these groups or information about these groups through methods like mandatory discussions on race and culture is crucial in benefiting from the neuroplasticity in children. If they have already been exposed to false stereotypes due to their upbringing or lack of diversity, diversity education provided by teachers in an educational setting can help children learn new perspectives and alter the way they see others and the world around them.
Furthermore, we can look to the race war between Black and White Americans. A child from a heavily conservative white family for instance, can develop prejudice for Black Americans as a result of their parents’ beliefs and attitudes towards that group of people, however, if the child is then subject to positive teachings about Black Americans from other role models, like teachers, and are presented with a positive attitude about them continually, they will be better able to differentiate between the two beliefs and begin to deconstruct their ingrained prejudice.
In this case, mindfulness is brought into play. Mindfulness is being conscious of one’s own thoughts and attitudes. For example, an individual who is exposed to thoughts that judge a particular group of people by their skin tone or geographical origin, they can be aware of these thoughts and “not get lost in the content of the thought” (Klein et al., 2019). If children or individuals can be taught to be mindful of their own judgements and refute ill judgments about others, they can slowly rewire their brains to no longer accept such judgements. These practices fall under a method known as Self Directed Neuroplasticity (SDN) which, in a study done by Tim Klein, Beth Kendall, and Theresa Tougas (2019), showed positive effects on individuals’ relationships with others. Each participant in the study was interviewed on their use of the different types of SDN techniques, including mindfulness and the impact it left on their disorders like depression and their relationships with others. One participant expressed that their use of SDN helped change them which in turn affected the people around them and bettered their relationships with them. Results such as these show positive prospects for the use of SDN in rewiring the human brain to deconstruct internalized and externalized racism. In an educational setting, teachers should expose students, especially in earlier grades, to differing perspectives of stereotypes. Instead of expressing generic social beliefs, teachers should teach children about existing stereotypes and debunk these stereotypes for children to change these perspectives within themselves. In the future, if students find themselves starting to give into such stereotypes, they can remember these new perspectives and be more mindful of their judgements about others, reducing the amount of prejudice that is expressed. This is a form of neuroplasticity because by introducing these new concepts and ideas to children and adolescents, their brains are rewiring to accommodate these new perspectives and information especially through LTP.
In an educational setting, educators should be encouraged to show positive attitudes towards different races, classes, and sexes to serve as a good model for their students and impressionable youth. In order to do this, teachers should undergo mindfulness training to prevent extending existing biases to their students. In both teachers and students, when mindfulness is employed, mindfulness helps to “modulate” “the brain’s prefrontal cortex or cerebral zone recognized for racial biases,” by activating the amygdala (Porter, 2021). Additionally, mindfulness meditation can impact the size of the amygdala, strengthen memory center nerve tissues, and “override impulses, and interrupt mental narratives,” (Porter, 2021; Aguilar, 2019; Davidson & McEwen, 2012; Swanson, 2020). Structural changes such as these caused by mindfulness corroborate the fact that neuroplasticity is a very effective tool in potentially decreasing prejudice at earlier ages. Teachers can use mindfulness to “rewire” their brains and stop themselves from falling into their biases. The teachers can then effectively teach students new perspectives in relation to race and culture in order to break stereotypes in children and introduce them to social diversity.
Conclusion
Prejudice is a largely enduring issue in the U.S and can potentially be decreased by utilizing neuroplasticity. Teachers should be mandated to teach students about social diversity and culture as well as introduce ideas and perspectives that go against harmful stereotypes in order to teach children mindfulness. The use of this technique is beneficial for both teachers and students because mindfulness/neuroplasticity can help “rewire” the brains of children and adolescents so they can grow up mostly without the harmful prejudices that are present today.
About the Author
Orne Akter is a rising sophomore at Harvard College, concentrating in Neuroscience.
References
- Aguilar, E. (2019). Getting mindful about race in schools. Educational Leadership, 76(7), 62-67. Allport, & W, G. (2021). The Nature of Prejudice. Live.com.
- Davidson, R., & McEwen, B. S. (2012). Social influences on neuroplasticity: Stress and interventions to promote well-being. Nature Neuroscience, 15(5), 689-695. Schwartz, J. M., & Begley, S. (2002). The mind and the brain: Neuroplasticity and the power of mental force. Regan Books/Harper Collins Publishers.
- Donaghue, E. (2021, February 26). 2,120 hate incidents against Asian Americans reported during the coronavirus pandemic. Retrieved December 12, 2022
- Jabbarpour, Y., Wendling, A., Taylor, M., Bazemore, A., A. E., & Chung, Y. (2022). Family Medicine’s Gender Pay Gap. Retrieved December 12, 2022, from https://www.jabfm.org/.
- Klein, T., Kendall, B., & Tougas, T. (2019). Sophia: St. Catherine University's Institutional Repository. Retrieved December 13, 2022, from https://sophia.stkate.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1019&context=ma_hhs
- Milner, A., Franz, B., & Braddock, J. H. (2020). We need to talk about racism—in all of its forms—to ... - health equityAdri. Retrieved December 13, 2022, from https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/heq.2020.0069
- Mundkur, N. (2005). Neuroplasticity in Children (pp. 855–857). Indian Journal of Pediatrics.
- Olsen, S. (2022). Digital Commons @ olby. Retrieved December 13, 2022, from https://digitalcommons.colby.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2362&context=honorsthes es
- Porter, B. R. (2021). Implementing mindfulness for white teachers to shift their unconscious biases to move towards an anti-racist pedagogy. Scholars.csus.edu. Retrieved April 12, 2023, from https://scholars.csus.edu/esploro/outputs/graduate/Implementing-mindfulness-for-white-teachers-to/99257909456001671#files_and_links
- Reisfeld, S. (2013). Are we born racist? A new Israeli study has some surprising answers. Retrieved December 12, 2022, from https://www.haaretz.com/2013-06-08/ty-article/.premium/are-humans-born-racist/000001 7f-f829-ddde-abff-fc6dd7160000
- Rethinking the Potential of the Brain in Major Psychiatric Disorders. Retrieved November 12, 2022, from https://mindfreedom.org/wp-content/uploads/attachments/RethinkingTheBrain.pdf
- Schacter, D. L., Knock, M. K., & Wegner, D. M. (2020). Psychology (5th ed., pp. 1-1644) (D. T. Gilbert, Ed.). NY, NY: Worth.
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