Sirens whining, an ambulance brings a 65-year-old woman on a stretcher to a hospital ER. She is conscious, but her mouth is drooping to one side, and she is confused and speaking unintelligibly. These telltale symptoms have allowed a preliminary diagnosis on the way to the hospital: acute ischemic stroke; a blood clot has blocked proper blood flow inside her brain.
 

People are not born racist. But as children grow up, their brains, which are association-generating machines, detect and unconsciously learn, through social interactions, to associate different groups of people to different attributes, which can be positive, neutral – or negative. And when these attributes concern ethnic minorities, negative associations give rise to racial stereotypes and racism. 

It started pretty innocuously. An email from my coordinator popped up in my inbox, asking if I would be available to prepare a piece for the campaign Be Open about Animal Research Day – Get on #BOARD21.

For the fourth episode of the Zoom-In series, meet Francisco (Paco) Romero. Curious about Paco’s research? Check out the Collective Behaviour Lab.

Photo credits (by order of appearance): Megan Carey, Zoe Orger, Rosa Reis.

We make countless decisions each hour, each minute. Most of these decisions are made without our active awareness and while they may be inconsequential to us, they can impact other people. For instance, when we choose a seat on the train next to people who look most similar to ourselves or how much eye contact we make (or don’t make).