[escepticos] Más sobre investigación de razas

["Victor R. Ruiz" <rvr@...>]

  Hola:

  Debajo de estos párrafos incluyo una nota de prensa sobre un artículo
publicado en Psicofisiología. Según investigadores de la Universidad de
Purdue (EEUU), los humanos reaccionamos ante la llegada de un extraño,
tanto más si es de otra raza.

  El experimento se llevó a cabo con 104 estudiantes, mitad blancos y mitad
negros. Se aducen causas culturales a la reacción (menos mal) quizás a
estereotipos en los medios de comunicación.

  Lo preocupante del asunto es que se estén investigando estas sandeces. 
Seguro que las reacciones son de igual resultado dependiendo del calibre de
las armas que llevan tanto unos como otros. "Las reacciones físicas a las
razas son un factor y requieren más estudios para comprenderlo". No es la
primera vez que leo notas de prensa de este estilo (creo que alguna vez ya
las he pasado por aquí). Preferiría que derrocharan el dinero de esa
universidad en culturizar más a la peña y hacerlos más tolerantes.

. . . .

   August 1998 
   
  When races interact, bodies react, Purdue study finds
  
   WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- In the search to understand race relations in
   this country, two Purdue University researchers are finding the
   answers are more than skin deep.
   
   CAPTION: Download Photo Here
   Photo caption below 
   
   [INLINE] Scott Vrana and David Rollock, both associate professors of
   psychological sciences, conduct studies looking at interactions
   between persons of different races and genders. In a study published
   in the July issue of the journal Psychophysiology, the two measured
   physical body reactions to encounters involving whites and
   African-Americans.
   
   They found that how the body reacts varies across genders and races.
   
   "People may think they feel comfortable with a person of another race,
   but their body's initial physical reaction to that person may tell a
   different story," Rollock says.
   
   For instance, when any stranger enters the room, most people
   experience an increase in heart rate. The researchers found that when
   the stranger is of another race, the heart rate generally goes up more
   than it would if the person were of the same race. The increase is
   most pronounced in men, and there is one exception to the
   different-race rule -- the presence of an African-American man sets
   hearts racing in both black and white men.
   
   "We found that for white males, heart rates went up almost 10 beats
   per minute when a black man entered the room," Vrana says. "This is a
   really large change." Heart rates in this instance stayed elevated
   throughout the encounter.
   
   He says black males also showed a higher heart rate in reaction to
   other black males, though the increase was not nearly as great -- only
   about two beats per minute. Heart rates decreased about two beats per
   minute in black males when the interactor was a white male.
   
   Rollock says the researchers are not certain why the sight of a black
   man would have such a profound effect. "It could be that people are
   just not used to seeing African-Americans in some settings," he says.
   The researchers also suspect that stereotyping and negative media
   portrayals may also have an effect.
   
   They conducted the study on the Purdue campus with 105 undergraduate
   male and female students -- 54 black, 51 white. Each subject was left
   alone in a room after being hooked up to equipment that monitored
   heart rate, perspiration and facial movements.
   
   During the session, a stranger would walk into the room, introduce
   himself or herself and then proceed to take the participant's pulse.
   The person would say that they were doing it to make sure that the
   equipment was functioning properly. After one minute, the person would
   leave the room. Sometimes the interactor was of the same race as the
   participant, other times not.
   
   The researchers conducted these experiments only with interactions
   between persons of the same sex. Different-sex pairings might have
   made the results even more complex to interpret, they say.
   
   In addition to heart rate changes, facial expressions were another
   tell-tale indicator.
   
   Vrana says Americans are a society of smilers. "Smiling when you greet
   someone is not inevitable, it's just something that we as a culture
   have chosen to do and train our children to do," he says. In other
   cultures, smiling isn't necessarily frowned upon, but it certainly is
   not the norm.
   
   In the study, participants tended to follow the cultural norm and
   smile during the first 10 seconds after someone walked into the room
   and greeted them. During those 10 seconds, the smile was greater to
   someone of the same race. During the next 20 seconds, participants
   tended to smile longer and show a greater smile to persons of a
   different race.
   
   "This might represent an automatically elicited greeting response that
   changes over time to a more consciously controlled expression," Vrana
   says. "Once people recognize that someone is of another race, they may
   make a conscious effort to smile at them. It may be that we are more
   self-conscious of how we present ourselves to people who are different
   from us."
   
   After initial reactions, whites and women as a group tended to smile
   more throughout the interaction period than did African-Americans, who
   were more neutral in expression.
   
   While the various body reactions may at times be only subtle -- such
   as a slight increase in heart rate or a slightly longer smile -- that
   doesn't mean they don't affect social relations. For instance, facial
   expressions are important regulators of social intercourse, the
   researchers say, and can significantly affect the emotional tone of
   those interactions. "Physical reactions to race are a factor and may
   require more study to understand," Vrana says.
   
   Sources: Scott Vrana, (765) 494-6977; e-mail, svrana en psych.purdue.edu
   
   David Rollock, (765) 494-6996; e-mail, rollock en psych.purdue.edu
   
   Writer: Beth Forbes, (765) 494-9723; e-mail;
   beth_forbes en uns.purdue.edu
   
   Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews en uns.purdue.edu
   
   ABSTRACT 
   Physiological response to a minimal social encounter: Effects of
   gender, ethnicity and social context 
   Scott R. Vrana and David Rollock 
   
   This study examined physiological response to an encounter with and
   touch by an unfamiliar person. Fifty-four African-American (24 male,
   30 female) and 51 white (23 male, 28 female) undergraduates
   participated. A black or white interactor entered the room, introduced
   him/herself, checked equipment for 30 seconds, then took a pulse for
   30 seconds. Entry of the interactor resulted in increased corrugator
   ("frown") and zygomatic ("smile") facial muscle activity (EMG), a skin
   conductance response (SCR), and heart rate (HR) acceleration.
   Corrugator EMG was greater among black subjects; white subjects
   responded with more zygomatic EMG, a larger SCR, and greater HR
   acceleration. Women evidenced a more positive facial expression than
   did men. Being touched reduced EMG and HR, but resulted in a larger
   SCR. White males and black males showed more HR acceleration and blood
   pressure increase when encountering a black male interactor.
   
. . . . 

  Pos eso. 

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Víctor R. Ruiz                rvr en idecnet.com
    Agrupación Astronómica de Gran Canaria
   Sociedad de Meteoros y Cometas de España
 Asociación de Variabilistas de España - AVE
AA Gran Canaria      http://aagc.dis.ulpgc.es
info.astro  http://www.astrored.org/infoastro
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