"or else, how could you cope with the sensory/panic overload?"
Leave your apartment, walk past some people that you just know are stupider than you, get a coffee served to you by some guy you just know is less hygienic than you are, when you park your bike make sure you lock it because some of the people nearby have criminal tendencies.
What overload? What panic? Some people carry these attitudes around with them all day, every day, and they don't panic about it.
It probably comforts and reassures them, knowing that they are intrinsically smarter/more hygienic/law-abiding than other people. And they don't even have to prove it!
Is there any research as to whether racist attitudes correlate more with perceived superiority or with fear? I wonder if this varies, e.g., by country.
Leave your apartment, walk past some people that you just know are stupider than you, get a coffee served to you by some guy you just know is less hygienic than you are, when you park your bike make sure you lock it because some of the people nearby have criminal tendencies.
What overload? What panic? Some people carry these attitudes around with them all day, every day, and they don't panic about it.