Biopreparedness and Xenophobia

Humans and animals alike are biologically prone to developing certain sensory aversions in association with various conditioned responses. In my psychology textbook was an example of humans generally associating sudden shock/pain with external stimuli such as lights and sounds. In contrast, humans typically associate physical illness such as nausea with intrisic stimuli such as food or water. These associations make humans more prepared for survival. For example, someone who gets food poisoning from spoiled Chinese food is more likely to not eat food that smells like just like it, therefore decreasing the likelihood of getting food poisoning a second time. Someone who has never eaten spoiled food is at a higher risk of food poisoning because they have never smelled or tasted spoiled food. This represents biopreparedness at its best.

Not only do humans learn taste aversions, but aversions to certain environmental stimuli as well. The idea that motivated me to write this blog post was the concept of people learning to fear members of different ethnic groups. Upon mild research, I found the idea of xenophobia, or the fear of foreigners (and more specifically to those of different cultural groups than your own) intriguing. At first read, the idea seems laughable. A fear of foreigners? Pshh. But really, taking the concept more generally, I don't think it's necessarily the fear of foreigners as it is the fear of foreign ideas.

Someone of a different skin tone assumes a different background which assumes different experiences which ultimately assumes different ideas and perspectives. How much in common does an Italian-American have in common with an Asian-American? Skin tone, hair color, eye color, height, build, and a lot of other physical features. But that's it. So why would there be any barrier be present between the two? Why at my school cafeteria do I see a table of ten Asian-American kids seperated by a table of ten Polish-American kids seperated by a table of ten Latino-American kids? In my opinion, it's not because our school is discriminatory or racist and it's not because those students are 'fearful' of the other students. It's because anyone would naturally prefer to live in a comfortable environment surrounded by people who share common interests, ideas, experiences, and outlooks on life.

Fret not. We aren't living in a xenophobic America. In a stereotypical high school setting, the artsy kids, Asian kids, jocks, nerds, and other labeled groups typically surround themselves with members of their respective groups because they have that much in common. Creating friendships which overlap such groups are certainly present, but I would think that initiating such a friendship starts with some degree of 'fear' of clashing ideas.

It would be false of me to assume that my Filipino self has nothing in common with someone of an Irish background. Xenophobia is exactly that: a phobia. It's something that can and should be overcome. It's the only way for barriers to break and acceptance to grow.