Spreading Racial Tolerance

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Welcome back! For my assignment this week, I was asked to analyze coverage of a specific news story from a mainstream newspaper categorized under the health or science sections. I chose the widely popular New York Times online newspaper as my media outlet and the article “Tolerance Over Race Can Spread, Studies Find” written by Benedict Carey from the science section as my article.

It is important to recognize that there is some level of inherent bias in all people. I found that the article analyzed relationship ties between diverse pairs of people: black and white, Latino and Asian, and black and Latino. Psychologists have concluded that bias in all people was reduced in a matter of hours through a series of bonding activities.

Recent studies suggest that trust can be built rather quickly given the right circumstances. Psychologists had pairs of people who have never met, come together for four sessions and partake in different activities in attempt to build a relationship from scratch. The first activity consisted of a series of general information questions asked to each person. Next, the pairs competed in a variety games. They then discussed multiple topics, including why they are proud to be a member of their race. Lastly, took turns navigating a maze while blindfolded and receiving directions form their partner. The experiment resulted in many longstanding relationships and significant reduces in bias. In addition, other studies suggest that even something as simple as having a friend, or sharing a class with people of a certain race can reduce prejudice toward that race.

The coverage of this story did not seem sensationalized; it pointed to evidence of real studies that were recently conducted and shed light on the issue of personal bias. In my opinion, Carey provides adequate evidence that shows how some issues can override prejudice. He notes that in some cases, like in the 2008 United States Presidential Election, statistics show that issues such as the current economic crisis trump most personal bias. Carey explains that in voter surveys, most of the 17 percent of white voters who said race played some role in their decision voted for McCain. However, among all voters who took race into account, Obama won the majority.

Through his research in studies conducted, Carey succeeded in answering all questions I had on the topic of race tolerance and the aspects regarding personal bias. He provided many examples of how bias can be trumped by other issues and disregarded, especially in the case of a presidential election. His coverage on the psychologists’ experiment offered a sufficient description on how existing prejudices in pairs can be broken and transformed into longstanding relationships. Ultimately, I was satisfied with the overall coverage of the story and the manner in which it was reported. See you next week!

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