Study shows heart disease pill lowers racist feelings

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Side effects include: fatigue, muscle aches and hugging a random black person?

British researchers found that a common heart disease drug lowers more than blood pressure… it lowers racist attitudes as well:

Researchers at Oxford University say that volunteers who took small doses of the beta blocker propranolol scored lower on tests used to detect “subconscious” racism than volunteers who took a dummy pill, London’s The Telegraph reported.

Propranolol is used to reduce blood pressure, and can also manage panic and anxiety disorders.

In the study, a group of 18 white students were given 20 mg doses of the drug before taking a test to gauge prejudice attitudes, while another group was given a placebo.

In one part of the test, volunteers were asked to sort pictures of black and white faces into categories along with positive and negative words, such as “happy” and “sad.”

In another segment, the test-takers were asked to report how “warm” they felt toward certain groups, including black people and Muslims.

Results showed the group that took propranolol showed lower “implicit” racist feelings, meaning they appeared less racist on a subconscious level.

Maybe we shouldn’t rule out the possibility that the effects were due to the drug incidentally reducing heart rate. So although this study is interesting, these initial results are a LOONG way away from suggesting that the drug is a cure to racism.

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