WHEN RACES INTERACT, THEIR BODIES REACT.

• Position: Increase in heart rates when seeing someone of a different race - Brief Article

In the search to understand race relations in this country, Scott Vrana and David Rollock, associate professors of psychological sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Ind., are finding the answers are more than skin deep. They are looking at interactions between persons of different races and sexes.

"People may think they feel comfortable with a person of another race, but their body's initial physical reaction to that person may tell a different story," Rollock indicates. For instance, when any stranger enters the room, most people experience an increase in heart rate. The researchers found that when the stranger is of another race, the heart rate generally goes up more than it would if the person were of the same race. The increase is most pronounced in men. There is one exception to the different-race rule--the presence of an African-American man sets hearts racing in both black and white men.

"We found that for white males, heart rates...