Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 9.djvu/611

 THE AMERICAN

JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

VOLUME IX MARCH, IQO4 NUMBERS

THE PSYCHOLOGY OF RACE-PREJUDICE.

I.

IN looking for an explanation of the antipathy which one race feels toward another, we may first of all inquire whether there are any conditions arising in the course of the biological develop- ment of a species which, aside from social activities, lead to a predilection for those of one's own kind and a prejudice against organically different groups. And we do, in fact, find such con- ditions. The earliest movements of animal life involve, in the rejection of stimulations vitally bad, an attitude which is the ana- logue of prejudice. On the principle of chemiotaxis, the micro- organism will approach a particle of food placed in the water and shun a particle of poison ; and its movements are similarly controlled by heat, light, electricity, and other tropic forces. The development of animal life from this point upward consists in the growth of structure and organs of sense adapted to dis- criminate between different stimulations, to choose between the beneficial and prejudicial, and to obtain in this way a more com- plete control of the environment. Passing over the lower forms of animal life, we find in the human type the power of attention, memory, and comparison highly developed, so that an estimate is put on stimulations and situations correspondent with the bearing of stimulations or situations of this type on welfare in the past. The choice and rejection involved in this process are accompanied by organic changes (felt as emotions) designed to

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