Children's Beliefs about the Race-Based Inheritance of Skills: Examining the Roles of Children's Age and Racial Background.

Essentialism;Race;Social cognition;Children"s attitudes;Psychology;Social Sciences;Psychology

Williams, Amber D.Gelman, Susan A. ;

University of Michigan

关键词: Essentialism;    Race;    Social cognition;    Children";    s attitudes;    Psychology;    Social Sciences;    Psychology;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/113550/amberdw_3.pdf?sequence=3&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

Research shows that children believe that a child will have the same skin color as his or her biological parents, even when they have been adopted by other-race parents (Hirschfeld, 1995). However, research has not yet explored whether children believe that additional individual traits are inherited by virtue of inheriting race (the innate potential of race). Understanding whether children use race to guide their judgments regarding the skills individuals possess may shed light on the development of racial essentialist thinking and may also have implications for children’s understanding of and developing beliefs about racial stereotypes. This study aimed to understand whether children believe in the innate potential of race; in other words, do children believe race is implicated in the traits individuals inherit or learn? This study also aimed to understand whether children’s beliefs differ, depending on their racial group membership and age. In order to explore this, I showed 80 Black and White children (ages 4-12) stories in which Black and White target children were adopted by same- or other-race parents. Children were asked whether the target children would have the same skills as either their biological or adoptive parents. Results showed that children’s beliefs differed depending on a number of factors, including participant race, participant age, target child race, and the order in which they saw the trials. For example, the youngest Black children believed in innate potential more for White target children than for Black target children, while the oldest Black children believed in innate potential more for Black target children than for White target children. Further, results suggested that children applied innate potential to target children more when the first story they were told featured a Black target child adopted by White parents. These results have important implications for our understanding of the development of racial essentialism in children. Specifically, this study demonstrates that children do, under certain circumstances, utilize race to guide their judgments regarding individuals’ characteristics. This study provides further evidence that children’s beliefs about race are highly contextual and may depend heavily on children’s racial group membership and stage of development.