At a time when "deport the immigrants" is an increasingly popular position, it's clear that animosity toward perceived outsiders remains a powerful driver of political attitudes. If you step back and identify the underlying emotional foundation of this problematic mindset, the answer is obvious: fear and insecurity. "Those people" are perceived as a threat to "my people."
But not everyone is equally fearful and insecure. As psychologists John Bowlby and Mary Ainsworth pointed out decades ago, healthy emotional functioning depends in large part on the presence of a loving, supportive figure one can depend upon. Such a figure gives a child the courage to explore, and helps establish a sense of security that can last a lifetime.
While this issue has eaten up countless billable hours in psychologists' offices, it seldom gets mentioned in relation to racial or ethnic prejudice. But newly published researchprovides evidence that the two problems may be intimately connected.
[For more of this story, written by Tom Jacobs, go to http://www.psmag.com/health-an...-hatred-of-outsiders]
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