ABSTRACT
Inclusion in a social group provides tremendous evolutionary advantages, including the accumulation of resources and defense of kin; and as such, social group membership is a fundamental factor in the development of biological function. These advantages contribute to ingroup preferences and a system tuned to group identification (see Cikara & Van Bavel, 2014 for a review). Layered upon these innate ingroup advantages is memetic evolution of stereotypes and prejudices. The interaction of a system tuned to ingroup cohesion and threat detection, along with the waxing and waning of cultural stereotypes and prejudices has led to a complex biological response to race.
