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A first-year university student entering the school cafeteria for the first time can teach you a lot about how people see prejudice, both in themselves and others.

She might look around, take a walk along the perimeter of the room and carefully watch her fellow students as they go about their business. Where do I line up? How much food can I take? Where can I find a tray?

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These questions run through her brain, without her necessarily being aware of it. Human beings tend to obey norms, and most of them are communicated just by observing.

It’s the same with prejudice.

Chris Crandall, a psychology professor at the University of Kansas, found that a big signal about what is acceptable in society comes at the ballot box. He conducted a survey of American voters before and after the recent election and found that, afterwards, people believed it was more acceptable to discriminate against groups president-elect Donald Trump had disparaged in the campaign.