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Racism learned

New research suggests prejudices may form at a much earlier age, but it also offers hope that biases can be unlearned

By James H. Burnett III

 |  Globe Staff  

  June 10, 2012

When Harvard’s Mahzarin Banaji began studying children’s brains two decades ago, in search of the roots of racism, she quickly concluded that bias is a learned behavior and learned over time - perhaps spread over the course of childhood. All that’s changed. Banaji’s recent research suggests that children’s brains process and accept bias much faster than previously believed - in just hours or days, rather than months or years. This revelation makes it even more important that adults not expose kids to bias.

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