You're Probably More Racist than You Think, Says Science

In a recent study it was discovered that mostly people admit to being racist but there are very few who realized that they are more prejudiced than they think. A study was conducted to observe how people conjured up images of people based on their names. Researchers observed that the participants imagined that people with black names were typically more violent and bigger in size. The researchers found that the participants of the study, white liberal minded people, thought of black sounding names like DeShawn and Jamal to be more threatening than the white sounding names like Wyatt and Connor, reports Daily Mail.

The new study reveals that there are many people who harbor prejudiced beliefs at subconscious levels. This study coupled with social psychology suggests that there are many people who still negatively associate with blacks. As per the study, people are tolerant towards racism but are unwilling to stand up to it, says CNN. This study also highlights a simple fact that people are very bad at predicting their actions in socially sensitive environment.

As reported by the Guardian, it is possible that we may hold strong beliefs about something while behaving in a completely opposite way. A demonstration of this behavior is explicitly shown in Harvard's Project Implicit. This project was also discussed at length in Malcolm Gladwell's Blink. As per the test, regardless of whichever race you belong to, there is a fair chance that you will take a second longer to associate positive behavior with black names or faces, as compared to the white ones. It is quite possible that in our minds we may think that we are opposed to prejudice but in reality may behave in a completely opposite way.