Teachers' nonverbal behaviors influence children's stereotypic beliefs

Children and adolescents rectify unequal allocations of leadership duties in the classroom

Little is known about how children and adolescents evaluate unequal teacher allocations of leadership duties based on ethnicity-race and gender in the classroom. U.S. boys and girls, White (40.7%), Multiracial (18.5%), Black/African American (16.0%), Latine (14.2%), Asian (5.5%), Pacific Islander (0.4%), and other (4.7%) ethnic-racial backgrounds, 8-14 years, N = 275, evaluated teacher allocations of high-status leadership positions favoring specific ethnic-racial or gender groups during 2018-2021. Adolescents, more than children, negatively evaluated unequal teacher allocations of leadership duties that resulted in group-based inequalities, expected peers who shared the identity of a group disadvantaged by the teacher's allocation to view it more negatively than others, and rectified inequalities. Understanding perceptions of teacher-based bias provides an opportunity for interventions designed to create fair and just classrooms that motivate all students to achieve.

How can white parents raise anti-racist children? Introducing the routes to effective anti-racist parenting (REAP) model

In response to highly publicized instances of overt racial injustice, there has been a recent resurgence of interest and commitment to identifying processes through which anti-racist behaviors develop among White individuals. One particularly important context in which anti-racist behaviors can develop is within families and as a result of childrearing. Theories of anti-racism typically neglect the role of families and family science research typically neglects a focus on anti-racist parenting outcomes. To further research and applied work on fostering anti-racism within White families, this paper introduces a new integrative model called routes to effective anti-racist parenting (REAP). The model draws on theories from various fields, including family science and social psychology, and uses a metaphor of nurturing a plant to explain the nuanced, multi-faceted approaches to anti-racist parenting. The model incorporates factors related to the "pot" (i.e., fundamental values and structure necessary to contain more specific anti-racist skills and behaviors), "soil" (i.e., characteristics that define anti-racist commitment), "seeds" (i.e., direct transmission of anti-racism skills), and "environment" (i.e., influential external factors). Finally, we describe the intended benefits that can be reaped from this intentional approach to anti-racist parenting. The REAP model contributes to the family science literature by providing an empirically grounded theoretical model describing the roles that parents can play in children's anti-racist development.

What kind of children do kindergarten teachers prefer? -Typology of the preferred types of children

The teacher's pets are a common occurrence in the field of education. To investigate the preferences teachers exhibit toward certain children, the study focused on kindergarten teachers and employed a mixed research methodology. Initially, qualitative interviews were conducted with 15 kindergarten teachers to identify specific criteria influencing teacher preferences. Subsequently, A comprehensive model of teacher's pets was developed through a questionnaire survey involving 463 participants. This model encapsulated 32 distinct indicators, categorized into 7 types: children with good appearance (GA), exceptional abilities (OA), commendable conduct (GC), proactive and enthusiastic demeanor (PE), compliant and carefree nature (OC), children from vulnerable groups (VC), and those influenced by their parents (PI). The resulting model demonstrated a sound structure. Not only did it validate existing findings, but it also expanded upon the identified types of teacher's pets. An analysis based on game theory revealed the weighted combinations, highlighting the top three types of teacher's pets: children influenced by parental factors (24.3%), proactive and enthusiastic individuals (15.7%), and obedient, carefree children (14.8%), respectively. Conversely, the representation of vulnerable-concerned children (11.1%) was the lowest among the identified types.

How cues to social categorization impact children's inferences about social categories

Social categorization involves two crucial processes: First, children seek properties on which they can categorize individuals, i.e., they learn to form social categories; then children make inferences based on social category membership and might develop affective responses toward social categories. Over the last decade, a growing number of research in developmental psychology started to use novel social categories to investigate how children learn and reason about social categories. To date, three types of cues have been put forward as means to form social categories, namely linguistic, visual, and behavioral cues. Based on social category membership, children draw inferences about the shared properties of social category members and about how social category members ought to behave and interact with each other. With additional input, children might apply essentialist beliefs to social categories and develop affective responses toward social categories. This article aims to provide key insights on the development of stereotypes and intergroup biases by reviewing recent works that investigated how children learn to form novel social categories and the kind of inferences they make about these novel social categories.

Children's thinking about group-based social hierarchies

Wealth, power, and status are distributed unevenly across social groups. A surge of recent research reveals that people being recognizing, representing, and reasoning about group-based patterns of inequity during the first years of life. We first synthesize recent research on what children learn about group-based social hierarchies as well as how this learning occurs. We then discuss how children not only learn about societal structures but become active participants in them. Studying the origins and development of children's thoughts and behavior regarding group-based social hierarchies provides valuable insight into how systems of inequity are perpetuated across generations and how intergroup biases related to wealth, power, and status may be mitigated and reshaped early in development.

Self-Worth as a Mediator and Moderator Between Teacher-Student Relationships and Student Engagement in Rural Schools

This study examined how self-worth of students mediated and moderated their perceived positive teacher-student relationships and student engagement among middle-school students from rural China. Eighth graders (N = 838) completed surveys measuring their perceived relationships with teachers, their self-worth, and engagement. Statistical analyses revealed significant correlations among all three variables, with the strongest being between teacher-student relationships and student engagement. The structural equation modeling indicated that self-worth partially mediated the effect of teacher-student relationships on student engagement; however, positive teacher-student relationships were a stronger predictor. Multigroup analyses identified self-worth as a moderator, whereby students with lower self-worth were more reliant on positive teacher-student relationships to enhance their engagement. This study provides insights into how self-worth of students and their perceived positive teacher-student relationships influence their academic engagement in disadvantaged rural areas of China.

How Microaggressions Reinforce and Perpetuate Systemic Racism in the United States

The consequences of racial microaggressions are most often discussed at an interpersonal level. In this article, we contend that microaggressions play an important role in maintaining systems of racial oppression beyond the interpersonal context. Specifically, we illustrate how microaggressions establish White superiority in the United States by othering people of color (e.g., treating people of color as if they are not true citizens) and communicating that they are inferior (e.g., environmental exclusions and attacks, treating people of color as second-class citizens). We also present evidence that microaggressions play a role in protecting and reinforcing systemic racism. By obscuring systemic racism (e.g., false color blindness, denial of individual racism) and promoting ideas that maintain existing systemic inequalities (e.g., the myth of meritocracy, reverse-racism hostility), microaggressions provide cover and support for established systems of oppression. Overall, we find considerable evidence-from both empirical studies and real-world examples-that microaggressions contribute to the maintenance of systems of racial oppression in the United States. We conclude with a discussion of how we might begin to challenge this cycle by increasing awareness of systemic racism and the microaggressions that aid in its perpetuation.

Social sampling: Children track social choices to reason about status hierarchies

We tested whether preschool-aged children (N = 280) track an agents' choices of individuals from novel social groups (i.e., social choices) to infer an agent's social preferences and the social status of the groups. Across experiments, children saw a box containing 2 groups (red and blue toy cats). In Experiment 1, children were randomly assigned to Social Selection in which items were described as "friends," or to Object Selection in which items were described as "toys." Within each selection type, the agent selected 5 items from either a numerically common group (82% of box; selections appearing random) or a numerically rare group (18% of box; selections violating random sampling). After watching these selections, children were asked who the agent would play with among 3 individuals: 1 from the selected group, 1 from the unselected group, or 1 from a novel group. Only participants who viewed Social Selection of a numerically rare group predicted that the agent would select an individual from that group in the future. These participants also said an individual from the selected group was the "leader." Subsequent experiments further probed the Social Selection findings. Children's reasoning depended on the agent actively selecting the friends (Experiment 2), and children thought a member of the rare selected group was the leader, but not the "helper" (Experiment 3). These results illustrate that children track an agent's positive social choices to reason about that agent's social preferences and to infer the status (likelihood of being a leader) of novel social groups. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Young children learn first impressions of faces through social referencing

Previous research has demonstrated that the tendency to form first impressions from facial appearance emerges early in development. We examined whether social referencing is one route through which these consistent first impressions are acquired. In Study 1, we show that 5- to 7-year-old children are more likely to choose a target face previously associated with positive non-verbal signals as more trustworthy than a face previously associated with negative non-verbal signals. In Study 2, we show that children generalise this learning to novel faces who resemble those who have previously been the recipients of positive non-verbal behaviour. Taken together, these data show one means through which individuals within a community could acquire consistent, and potentially inaccurate, first impressions of others faces. In doing so, they highlight a route through which cultural transmission of first impressions can occur.

Beyond students: how teacher psychology shapes educational inequality

Although researchers investigating psychological contributors to educational inequality have traditionally focused on students, a growing literature highlights the importance of teachers' psychology in shaping disparities in students' educational achievement and attainment. In this review, we discuss recent advances linking teachers' attitudes, perceptions, and beliefs to inequality in students' outcomes. First, we identify specific aspects of teacher psychology that contribute to educational disparities, including teachers' biases, perceptions and expectations of students, beliefs about the nature of ability, and beliefs about group differences. Second, we synthesize mechanisms underlying the effects of teacher psychology on educational inequality, including teachers' disparate assessment of students' work and abilities, interpersonal interaction with students, and psychological impact on students. Implications for future research and interventions are discussed.