Subtle Racism Harasses Brain

Decoding ‘Ambiguous’ Prejudice Interferes With Mental Tasks

By Daniel J. DeNoon
WebMD Health News

Reviewed by Louise Chang, MD

Sept. 21, 2007 – Subtle racism interferes with black people’s mental function even more than overt racism does, a psychological study shows.

For whites, who are much less often the targets of prejudice, overt racism interferes with mental function more.

“It appears that blacks are particularly vulnerable to cognitive impairment resulting from exposure to ambiguous prejudice — a level of prejudice whites may not even register,” conclude Princeton University psychologists Jessica Salvatore, PhD, and J. Nicole Shelton, PhD. Read More