Psychological aspects of racism in the international perspective

In the early development of the child, the family plays a fundamental part in laying the foundation of attitudes which serve the purpose of helping the child to behave appropriately to situations which may be a threat to him; one such attitude is racism. On the one hand racism builds a strong bond among individuals of the same race, but on the other hand it can put strong barriers between people belonging to different races. The prejudice against other racial groups usually lurks under the surface in the human mind, but certain factors may cause this to explode into deep hatred and violence. In this paper, the psychological causes of prejudice and their effects are discussed.