[manarth]

  instinct and sexism/racism are often conflated.

What's perceived as instinct is often the outcome of social conditioning, which gives outcomes such as "People See Black Men as Larger, More Threatening Than Same-Sized White Men" [1]

[1] http://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2017/03/black-men-thr...

[chmln]

Could also be due to the disproportionally high rates of crime among black men. That should never be an excuse for prejudice, however.

https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2012/crime-in-the-u.s.-... https://infogr.am/Black-34991937313

[projektir]

I think instead of instinct "intuition" would be a better word. It is gut feeling, but developed from environment rather than innate.