Quote Originally Posted by Oxylepy View Post
Snakes lack a limbic system and a developed neocortex.

Prejudice is a learned survival mechanism. Things that threaten your ability to survive require mechanisms to keep you alive and keep the species reproducing. A few of these mechanisms are built in and others are learned (just like work ethic is learned), prejudice is one of these mechanisms. Usually it is learned at an extremely early age from your parents or other role models. As such it is very hard to lose.

It also doesn't help that we seek out people who are similar to us and peer acceptance reinforces the mechanism.

Trying to remove prejudice from humanity is entirely useless, it's better to have people more integrated from an early age so they can get positive and negative experiences with people of all groups.

As for sexual prejudice, thats actually built into us as children in the way our parents treat us and how our peers treat us. Gender roles pretty much just constantly enforce themselves. Look at how long it has taken for women to become as empowered as they are now.
I do not think prejudice is a "learned" mechanism, though it is a mechanism,I think humans have to learn not to to be prejudiced, because being prejudiced against strangers, has been an advantage in reproduction way too long. I highly doubt sociology, in my eyes the most useless academic field and I am a strong believer in in social biology, genetics and evolutinary behaviour sciences, I have been studying social sciences way too long, being confronted with Freudianers and "Your peer group forms you, you are nothing" sociologists.