New study reveals attitudes to race change with economic decline.

If you've been thinking that there seems to be a rise in racist behaviour during the current hard times you may be right. A new study published in the proceedings of the National Academy of the Sciences by psychology professor David Amodio from New York University suggests that when times are hard white people are more likely to let their true feelings towards black people show.

In the study two researchers performed a series of race-based experiments on predominantly white test subjects and came up with some disturbing results. The study was able to link economic downturn with the way people perceive and act towards those who look different to them.

And if you thought being of mixed racial background would give you a lesser chance of feeling the backlash you might be surprised to learn that in tough times mixedness is ignored as white test subjects continued to only identify racially mixed individuals as "black" even if they only had a slight amount of black in their genetic makeup.

For the study, the researchers used a computer program to blend black and white facial features in order to create an artificial mixed-race face. White study subjects tended to view mixed-race people as darker when experiencing financial strain. The more the subjects believed that whites and blacks were competing in a difficult economic market, the likelier they were to see the lighter-complexioned faces as black and in some cases, faces that comprised only one-third black facial features were perceived as fully black by the white study subjects.

The study also found the white study subjects were less generous to the computed generated black faces when associated with economic decline. Subjects were given $15 to "split evenly," and ended up giving an average of 70 cents less to the darker of the two computer-generated faces.

Professor Amodio suggests that harsh economic times appear to have an effect on the behaviour of some people saying: "The fact that resources are scarce in society is enough to change the way an individual looks at other people,"

If this behaviour is not addressed then there are serious consequences for black and racially mixed communities Professor Amodio suggests, "This would play out in one-on-one situations — like when someone is applying for a bank loan, or dealing with their mortgages, or interviewing for a job."

Black Americans were especially hard-hit by the recent economic slump: From 2007 to 2009, median household wealth decreased by 16 percent for whites and 53 percent for blacks.

Whilst there are a great many differences between the USA and the UK, the rise of certain right wing groups and the growing popularity of UKIP suggests some are no longer able to keep their prejudice in check.

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Source:Medical Daily