Children can represent complex social status hierarchies: Evidence from Indonesia

Children's ethnicity-status associations are often studied in societies where one ethnic group possesses status across multiple dimensions, such as political influence and wealth. This study examined children's (6-12 years) and adults' representations of more complex hierarchies in Indonesia (N = 341; 38% Native Indonesian, 33% Chinese Indonesian, and 27% other ethnicities; 55% female, 36% male; 2021-2022), a society where ethnic groups hold distinct forms of status (on average, Native Indonesians have political influence; Chinese Indonesians have wealth). By 6.5 years, children associated Native Indonesians with political influence and Chinese Indonesians with wealth. Intersectional analyses indicated that ethnicity-status associations were stronger for male than female targets. Children of all ethnicities preferred Chinese Indonesians and preferences were predicted by wealth judgments.

Children use race to infer who is "in charge"

Children must navigate multifaceted social hierarchies to make sense of the social world. Whereas race and social status covary in many societies, minimal research has examined whether children use race as a status marker. Across three studies, we asked 3- to 11-year-old American children (N = 646) to determine which of two models was "in charge" while varying the models' race and posture cues. When the cue of race was presented individually (Study 1), children used it to derive their status inferences. That is, they expected a White model to more likely be "in charge" than a Black model. However, when the cue of race was presented in conjunction with conflicting posture cues (Study 3), children relied more heavily on posture to determine who was in "in charge." Thus, whereas children have learned the association between White and higher status from their community, they understand that other cues may be more indicative of social status.

Early presence of a "power = males" association: Girls link power to their gender less often than boys but can be as motivated to gain it

In three studies, it was tested whether children (N = 184; aged 6-10 years, White, mid- to high income) from a U.S. midwestern city used other individuals' gender and race to predict who is in charge and the means by which power is gained (Study 1) and whether children's own gender predicted their assignments of positions of authority (Study 2A) and pursuits of positions of authority (Study 2B). When asked to predict who was in charge at different workplaces, with age White children decreased their race-based, power-related favoritism; children were increasingly likely with age to link White adults to rather questionable routes to power as well as Black adults with meritorious reasons for gaining power (Study 1). In addition, boys (but not girls) systematically associated power with adult workers of their own gender and did so regardless of whether or not power had been obtained meritoriously (Study 1). Nonetheless, when given the option to assign an authority role (Study 2A) or assume an authority role (Study 2B), boys and girls exhibited comparable levels of in-group and self-biases.

Teachers' nonverbal behaviors influence children's stereotypic beliefs

The current research tested whether differences in teachers' nonverbal behaviors influence children's intergroup attitudes and stereotypic beliefs. In this study, 5- to 8-year-old participants (N = 96) were assigned to novel groups (marked by T-shirt color) and then viewed interactions between teachers and pairs of students who were also members of the novel groups. Across four interactions, the teacher directed positive nonverbal behaviors toward students from one group and directed negative nonverbal behaviors toward students from another group. After viewing the interactions, participants were presented with pairs of new students from the two novel groups and were asked three types of test questions. When participants were asked who was smarter, they selected new students from the group that had received positive nonverbal behaviors regardless of their own group membership. However, when asked who they would like to befriend, only participants who were assigned to the group that received positive behaviors selected ingroup members. On trials where participants were asked to select a partner on an academic task, participants' selections did not differ from chance. This study shows that teachers' nonverbal behaviors may be one source of children's academic stereotypes, including negative stereotypes about groups to which they belong. Moreover, these findings highlight the importance of subtle social cues in guiding children's beliefs about social groups.

Cultural Snapshots: A Method to Capture Social Contexts in Development of Prejudice and Stereotyping

The scientific identification of how social environments transmit intergroup biases is a transparently complex endeavor. Existing research has examined the emergence of intergroup biases such as racial prejudice and stereotypes in many ways, including correlations between racial diversity and children's prejudice, content analyses of features in the media, or experiments testing the influence of selected variables with unknown prevalence in children's environments. Yet, these approaches have left unanswered how the social environments that children engage with cause them to acquire racial prejudice and stereotypes. We provide a review of the existing literature on socialization of racial prejudice and stereotypes and then present a methodological approach that can be used to quantify and test causal relations between the features of children's social environments and intergroup biases. We provide examples of how this method has and can be used alongside a discussion of unique considerations when applied to child samples.

Heritage Language Socialization in Chinese American Immigrant Families: Prospective Links to Children's Heritage Language Proficiency

Though a number of language socialization processes are theorized to promote children's heritage language proficiency (HLP), little research has considered these processes in a single study and examined their prospective relations to multiple domains of HLP in school-age children. In a two-wave longitudinal study of Chinese American children of immigrant parents (N = 258, age = 7-11 years), language socialization processes (e.g., adult HL use at home, parental attitudes towards HL, child participation in HL classes or extracurricular activities) were assessed using parent reports and behavioral observation at Time 1 (1^st to 2^nd grade). Children's HLP (Cantonese or Mandarin) was assessed using vocabulary and literacy tests at Time 2. Results of structural equation modeling showed that adults' Chinese language use with children at home predicted children's higher Chinese receptive and expressive vocabulary two years later, and children's participation in Chinese language extra-curricular activities predicted their higher Chinese receptive and expressive vocabulary and higher Chinese word reading. By contrast, parental valuing of Chinese language and children's exposure to Chinese media did not predict children's Chinese proficiency. These findings provided support for the benefits of HL use at home and HL classes in promoting HL development in children in immigrant families.

Race Essentialism and Social Contextual Differences in Children's Racial Stereotyping

The authors explored the differential emergence and correlates of racial stereotyping in 136 children ages 4-11 years across two broad social contexts: Hawai'i and Massachusetts. Children completed measures assessing race salience, race essentialism, and in-group and out-group stereotyping. Results indicated that the type of racial stereotypes emerging with age was context dependent. In both contexts in-group stereotyping increased with age. In contrast, there was only an age-related increase in out-group stereotyping in Massachusetts. Older children in Massachusetts reported more essentialist thinking (i.e., believing that race cannot change) than their counterparts in Hawai'i, which explained their higher out-group stereotyping. These results provide insight into the factors that may shape contextual differences in racial stereotyping.

Ethnic Stereotyping and Identification in a Multicultural Context: "Acculturation", Self-esteem and Identity Diffusion in Hong Kong Chinese University Students

Ethnic identity and "acculturation" in a multicultural context were investigated in terms of the relationship between people's intergenerational identification and their varying degrees of identification with stereotyped alternative ethnic groupings, and the consequences for their self-esteem and identity diffusion. The conceptual frame work of Identity Structure Analysis (Weinreich, 1989a) is outlined and used to formulate hypotheses concerning the relationship of patterns of identification with self-esteem and identity diffusion. A group of 156 Hong Kong Chinese university students responded to an identity instrument using constructs suitable for the Chinese perception of personality characteristics. Results demonstrated that a greater degree of (a) identification with the mainstream Hong Kong Chinese was correlated with continuity of parental and peer identification, where greater emphasis was on peers, and with self-esteem; (b) identification with the modern Oriental peoples was also correlated with continuity of intergenerational identification, but with a greater emphasis on parents, and with identity diffusion; (c) identification with the tradi tional Chinese was correlated solely with identification with the parental generation and with identity diffusion; (d) identification with the Western world was correlated . solely with the peer generation and with self-esteem; and (e) identification with the developing peoples was correlated with identity diffusion and inversely correlated with self-esteem. Implications for theory and policy are discussed.

Understanding and Managing Multiculturalism: Some Possible Implica tions of Research in Canada

This paper outlines the nature of multiculturalism in Canada and examines such psychological constructs as security, contact, similarity and prejudice that have been used to study it. It reviews empirical findings involving the dominant and acculturating groups and weighs the problems and prospects for the policy of multiculturalism in Canada. The implications of this work for developing societies are pointed out.

Racial Preference and Self-Esteem in Black South African Children

Discrimination against black minority children was originally viewed as causing them to evaluate their own-group negatively and the white out-group positively, resulting in impaired self-esteem. Research, however, has produced inconsistent findings, possibly because of social change and the black consciousness movement. The present study investigated this issue among black South African children, a social group that has experienced particularly severe racial discrimination. As expected, the findings indicated that self-esteem, own-group racial pride, and overall ethnocentrism were significantly higher amongst older ( n = 37; 10 to 12-years old) than among younger black children ( n = 41; 6 to 8-years old). The younger children showed a slight though non-significant tendency to out-group favouritism, while the pattern for the older children was non-preference. However, the correlations of self-esteem with in-group pride, out-group prejudice, and overall ethnocentrism were non-significant suggesting that the own-group and out-group attitudes of minority children do not necessarily effect their self-attitudes.

Developmental Patterns in the Flexibility of Children's Ethnic Attitudes

Developmental patterns in ethnic attitudes were assessed in 232 children aged 5 to 12 years in relation to cognitive development and social desirability responding. English-speaking children assigned 10 positive attributes, 10 negative attributes, and 4 neutral attributes to either an English-speaking child, a French-speaking child, or both an English- and a French-speaking child, depicted by line drawings. Positive attributions to their own ethnic group and negative attributions to the other ethnic group were less frequent in older children. Flexibility of ethnic attitudes, that is, attributions to both groups, increased with age and were inversely related to positive own-group attributions and negative other-group attributions. High flexibility followed the attainment of concrete operational thinking, as measured by conservation but not by ethnic constancy. Flexibility was inversely related to Crandall social desirability responding and unrelated to children's conformity to the experimenter's attitude. These results indicate the importance of cognitive rather than social desirability factors in the development of children's ethnic attitudes.

The Influence of Perceptual Features, Ethnic Labels, and Sociocultural Information on the Development of Ethnic/Racial Bias in Young Children

Taiwanese children from 3 to 11 years of age were asked to identify their racial group membership and select potential playmates from arrays of racially diverse photos. Children at all age levels displayed some Asian bias; however, this bias was lowest in 10- to 11- year-olds. Same-race bias was also reduced in 8 to 9 year olds by labeling the Asian photos as an ethnicity other than Chinese. This labeling effect emerged and was strongest at the same point in development that children displayed a significant increase in their ability to identify their own group membership. Perception of racial features exerted more influence over children’s choices than recognition of ethnic labels. However, both of these features triggered some bias via knowledge of own-group membership, which appears to be particularly important to children early in development when it is first learned. Preference for familiar physical features and sociocultural information concerning group desirability also influenced children’s biases.

Efficacy of Multicultural Education for Preschool Children

The efficacy of multicultural curricula for the development of “racial expertise” was examined in 79 pre-school children. Children in preschools with multicultural and emergent curricula ( n = 43) were compared with children in preschools with multicultural but no emergent curricula ( n = 20) and children in preschools with neither multicultural nor emergent curricula ( n = 16) in their responses to the Multi-Response Racial Attitude Scale and domain-specific measures of racial groups knowledge. Results suggest children in preschools with both multicultural and emergent curricula have more domain-specific racial knowledge but not less biased attitudes than other preschool children.

Ethnic/Racial Attitudes and Self-Identification of Black Jamaican and White New England Children

A total of 411 children from urban and rural areas of Jamaica and from rural New England were examined by both White and Black interviewers for their skin color and body size preferences and for self-identification, using a modified dolls test. Overall, children from all three communities showed White favoritism and average body size favoritism. Within communities, there were age and gender differences. Kindergartners from rural Jamaica did not show skin color or body size bias, and White fifth/sixth graders from New England showed reverse, pro-Black and pro-chubby favoritism. In Jamaica, boys displayed more bias than girls. Correct racial self-identification was greater among New England than Jamaican children, possibly related to the choice of White as an ideal self among some Jamaican children. Examiner skin color influenced both color and body size preference; self-identification was influenced by examiner skin color only among the rural Jamaican children.

On the Desirability of Own-Group Preference

This article reviews and critiques the ethnic preference research that views minorities'own-group preference behavior as indicative of self-esteem and identity achievement. The assumption that own-group preference is ideal, normative, or healthy is called into question and an alternative conceptualization is advanced. It is argued that with age and maturity individuals should find themselves less prone to accept or reject ethnically salient stimuli solely on the basis of the surface features of those stimuli and more on the basis of whether such stimuli reflect personal interests, inner experiences, values, and intrapsychic needs.

Mexican American Children’s Ethnic Identity, Understanding of Ethnic Prejudice, and Parental Ethnic Socialization

Mexican American children in Grades 2 (n = 22) and 6 (n = 25) were interviewed about their understanding of ethnic prejudice and were administered two indices of ethnic identity (ethnic knowledge and ethnic behavior). Most of the children (n = 19) were third generation or later (no parent or grandparent born in Mexico), but 11 had at least one parent born in Mexico. Parents of the children were administered acculturation and ethnic socialization measures. Study results suggested that (a) parental ethnic socialization about ethnic discrimination was associated with children’s development of ethnic knowledge, (b) low levels of parental acculturation to Anglo norms were associated with children performing ethnic behaviors, and (c) children’s advanced understanding of ethnic prejudice was associated with high levels of ethnic knowledge and higher grade levels. These results support and extend Bernal, Knight, Garza, Ocampo, and Cota’s multifaceted model of ethnic identity: One aspect of ethnic identity (i.e., ethnic knowledge) was predictive of children’s understanding of ethnic prejudice, whereas another index (i.e., ethnic behavior) was not. Moreover, this study’s results support Quintana and Vera’s model of children’s developmental understanding of ethnic prejudice. This study suggests that children’s understanding of ethnic prejudice represents an important aspect of the development of Mexican American children.

3-Year-Old Children Selectively Generalize Object Functions Following a Demonstration from a Linguistic In-group Member: Evidence from the Phenomenon of Scale Error

The present study investigated 3-year-old children’s learning processes about object functions. We built on children’s tendency to commit scale errors with tools to explore whether they would selectively endorse object functions from a linguistic in-group over an out-group model. Participants (n = 37) were presented with different object sets, and a model speaking either in their native or a foreign language demonstrated how to use the presented tools. In the test phase, children received the object sets with two modifications: the original tool was replaced by one that was too big to achieve the goal but was otherwise identical, and another tool was added to the set that looked different but was appropriately scaled for goal attainment. Children in the Native language condition were significantly more likely to commit scale errors – that is, choose the over-sized tool – than children in the Foreign language condition (48 vs. 30%). We propose that these results provide insight into the characteristics of human-specific learning processes by showing that children are more likely to generalize object functions to a category of artifacts following a demonstration from an in-group member.

Children Use Wealth Cues to Evaluate Others

Wealth differences between individuals are ubiquitous in modern society, and often serve as the basis for biased social evaluations among adults. The present research probed whether children use cues that are commonly associated with wealth differences in society to guide their consideration of others. In Study 1, 4–5-year-old participants from diverse racial backgrounds expressed preferences for children who were paired with high-wealth cues; White children in Study 1 also matched high-wealth stimuli with White faces. Study 2 conceptually replicated the preference effect from Study 1, and showed that young children (4–6 years) also use material wealth indicators to guide their inferences about people’s relative standing in other domains (i.e., competence and popularity). Study 3 revealed that children (5–9 years) use a broad range of wealth cues to guide their evaluations of, and actions toward, unfamiliar people. Further, biased responses were not attenuated among children whose families were lower in socioeconomic status. Often overlooked by those who study children’s attitudes and stereotypes, social class markers appear to influence evaluations, inferences, and behavior early in development.

White Bias in 3–7-Year-Old Children across Cultures

In three studies we report data confirming and extending the finding of a tendency toward a White preference bias by young children of various ethnic backgrounds. European American preschoolers who identify with a White doll also prefer it to a Black doll. In contrast, same age African American children who identify with a Black doll do not show a significant preference for it over a White doll. These results are comparable in African American children attending either a racially mixed (heterogeneous), or an Afro-centric, all African American (homogenous) preschool. These results show the persistence of an observation that contributed to school de-segregation in the United States. Results also reveal a lack of congruence between skin color identity and preference is not limited to African Americans. There is a comparable, if not stronger White preference bias in five to seven-year-old Polynesian and Melanesian children tested in their native island nations. Using a modified procedure controlling for binary forced choice biases, we confirm these findings with second generation American children of Indian descent showing clear signs of a White (lighter skin preference) bias. These results are consistent with the idea that during the preschool years children are sensitive and attracted to signs of higher social status that, for historical reasons and across cultures, tends to be associated with lighter skin color.

Social class differences produce social group preferences

Some social groups are higher in socioeconomic status than others and the former tend to be favored over the latter. The present research investigated whether observing group differences in wealth alone can directly cause children to prefer wealthier groups. In Experiment 1, 4-5-year-old children developed a preference for a wealthy novel group over a less wealthy group. In Experiment 2, children did not develop preferences when groups differed by another kind of positive/negative attribute (i.e. living in brightly colored houses vs. drab houses), suggesting that wealth is a particularly meaningful group distinction. Lastly, in Experiment 3, the effect of favoring novel wealthy groups was moderated by group membership: Children assigned to a wealthy group showed ingroup favoritism, but those assigned to a less wealthy group did not. These experiments shed light on why children tend to be biased in favor of social groups that are higher in socioeconomic status.

Northern = smart and Southern = nice: The development of accent attitudes in the United States

Adults evaluate others based on their speech, yet little is known of the developmental trajectory by which accent attitudes are acquired. Here we investigate the development of American children's attitudes about Northern- and Southern-accented American English. Children in Illinois (the “North”) and Tennessee (the “South”) evaluated the social desirability, personality characteristics, and geographic origins of Northern- and Southern-accented individuals. Five- to 6-year-old children in Illinois preferred the Northern-accented speakers as potential friends, yet did not demonstrate knowledge of any stereotypes about the different groups; 5–6-year-old children in Tennessee did not show a preference towards either type of speaker. Nine- to 10-year-old children in both Illinois and Tennessee evaluated the Northern-accented individuals as sounding “smarter” and “in charge”, and the Southern-accented individuals as sounding “nicer.” Thus, older children endorse similar stereotypes to those observed in adulthood. These accent attitudes develop in parallel across children in different regions and reflect both positive and negative assessments of a child's own group.

Children's Use of Social Categories in Thinking About People and Social Relationships

A series of studies investigated White U.S. three- and four-year-old children's use of gender and race information to reason about their own and others' relationships and attributes. Three-year-old children used gender- but not race-based similarity between themselves and others to decide with whom they wanted to be friends, as well as to determine which children shared their own preferences for various social activities. Four-year-old (but not younger) children attended to gender and racial category membership to guide inferences about others' relationships, but did not use these categories to reason about others' shared activity preferences. Taken together, the findings provide evidence for three suggestions about these children's social category-based reasoning. First, gender is a more potent category than race. Second, social categories are initially recruited for first-person reasoning, but later become broad enough to support third-person inferences. Finally, at least for third-person reasoning, thinking about social categories is more attuned to social relationships than to shared attributes.

Children associate racial groups with wealth: evidence from South Africa

Group-based social hierarchies exist in nearly every society, yet little is known about whether children understand that they exist. The present studies investigated whether 3- to 10-year-old children (N=84) in South Africa associate higher status racial groups with higher levels of wealth, one indicator of social status. Children matched higher value belongings with White people more often than with multiracial or Black people and with multiracial people more often than with Black people, thus showing sensitivity to the de facto racial hierarchy in their society. There were no age-related changes in children's tendency to associate racial groups with wealth differences. The implications of these results are discussed in light of the general tendency for people to legitimize and perpetuate the status quo.

Language-based social preferences among children in South Africa

Monolingual English-speaking children in the United States express social preferences for speakers of their native language with a native accent. Here we explore the nature of children's language-based social preferences through research with children in South Africa, a multilingual nation. Like children in the United States, Xhosa South African children preferred speakers of their first language (Xhosa) to speakers of a foreign language (French). Thus, social preferences based on language are observed not only among children with limited exposure to cultural and linguistic variation but also among children living in a diverse linguistic environment. Moreover, Xhosa children attending school in English expressed social preferences for speakers of English over speakers of Xhosa, even when tested by a Xhosa-speaking experimenter. Thus, children's language-based social preferences do not depend exclusively on preferences for more familiar or intelligible speech but also extend to preferences for speech that may convey higher status in the child's society.

Development of ethnic, racial, and national prejudice in childhood and adolescence: a multinational meta-analysis of age differences

This meta-analysis summarizes 113 research reports worldwide (121 cross-sectional and 7 longitudinal studies) on age differences in ethnic, racial, or national prejudice among children and adolescents. Overall, results indicated a peak in prejudice in middle childhood (5-7 years) followed by a slight decrease until late childhood (8-10 years). In addition to differences for the various operationalizations of prejudice, detailed findings revealed different age-related changes in prejudice toward higher versus lower status out-groups and positive effects of contact opportunities with the out-group on prejudice development. Results confirm that prejudice changes systematically with age during childhood but that no developmental trend is found in adolescence, indicating the stronger influence of the social context on prejudice with increasing age.

Race preferences in children: insights from South Africa

Minority-race children in North America and Europe often show less own-race favoritism than children of the majority (White) race, but the reasons for this asymmetry are unresolved. The present research tested South African children in order to probe the influences of group size, familiarity, and social status on children's race-based social preferences. We assessed South African children's preferences for members of their country's majority race (Blacks) compared to members of other groups, including Whites, who ruled South Africa until 1994 and who remain high in status. Black children (3-13 years) tested in a Black township preferred people of their own gender but not race. Moreover, Black, White, and multiracial children (4-9 years) tested in a racially diverse primary school showed in-group bias by gender but not by race: all favored people who were White. Relative familiarity and numerical majority/minority status therefore do not fully account for children's racial attitudes, which vary with the relative social status of different racial groups.

Do infants show social preferences for people differing in race?

Do infants develop meaningful social preferences among novel individuals based on their social group membership? If so, do these social preferences depend on familiarity on any dimension, or on a more specific focus on particular kinds of categorical information? The present experiments use methods that have previously demonstrated infants' social preferences based on language and accent, and test for infants' and young children's social preferences based on race. In Experiment 1, 10-month-old infants took toys equally from own- and other-race individuals. In Experiment 2, 2.5-year-old children gave toys equally to own- and other-race individuals. When shown the same stimuli in Experiment 3, 5-year-old children, in contrast, expressed explicit social preferences for own-race individuals. Social preferences based on race therefore emerge between 2.5 and 5 years of age and do not affect social choices in infancy. These data will be discussed in relation to prior research finding that infants' social preferences do, however, rely on language: a useful predictor of group or coalition membership in both modern times and humans' evolutionary past.

Social categories guide young children's preferences for novel objects

To whom do children look when deciding on their own preferences? To address this question, 3-year-old children were asked to choose between objects or activities that were endorsed by unfamiliar people who differed in gender, race (White, Black), or age (child, adult). In Experiment 1, children demonstrated robust preferences for objects and activities endorsed by children of their own gender, but less consistent preferences for objects and activities endorsed by children of their own race. In Experiment 2, children selected objects and activities favored by people of their own gender and age. In neither study did most children acknowledge the influence of these social categories. These findings suggest that gender and age categories are encoded spontaneously and influence children's preferences and choices. For young children, gender and age may be more powerful guides to preferences than race.

How children stigmatize people with mental illness

Many advocates have called for more anti-stigma programs targeting the attitudes of children towards people with mental illness as a way to forestall subsequent prejudice and discrimination as they age and develop. In order to better understand how children stigmatize people with mental illness, we reviewed the substantial literature on social cognitive development and ethnic prejudice. This literature suggests a curvilinear relationship. Children as young as three show some endorsement of stereotypes about people of color, which slowly increases and seems to peak around age five to six. Older children, interestingly, show lower rates of ethnic prejudice. Differences between mental illness and ethnicity-related stigma may influence the form of this relationship and we provide some hypotheses representing this difference. We then summarize the literature on stigma change, focusing on how specific strategies interact with what is known about social cognitive development and prejudice. Strategies that are reviewed include education, contact, social cognitive skills training, role play for empathy, peer interaction, protest and consequences. Implications for continued research in this area are highlighted throughout the article.

Why Most People Disapprove of Me: Experience Sampling in Impression Formation

Individuals are typically more likely to continue to interact with people if they have a positive impression of them. This article shows how this sequential sampling feature of impression formation can explain several biases in impression formation. The underlying mechanism is the sample bias generated when the probability of interaction depends on current impressions. Because negative experiences decrease the probability of interaction, negative initial impressions are more stable than positive impressions. Negative initial impressions, however, are more likely to change for individuals who are frequently exposed to others. As a result, systematic differences in interaction patterns, due to social similarity or proximity, will produce systematic differences in impressions. This mechanism suggests an alternative explanation of several regularities in impression formation, including a negativity bias in impressions of outgroup members, systematic differences in performance evaluations, and more positive evaluations of proximate others.

The Emergence of Ethnic and Racial Attitudes in Preschool-Aged Children

The author assessed preschool-aged children's attitudes (N = 70) toward their own and 2 ethnic or racial out-groups using traditional forced-choice measures and a new method that assessed children's out-group attitudes independently of their attitudes toward their own group. When required to assign positive and negative traits to either their own group or an ethnic or racial out-group, children evaluated their own group favorably relative to the out-group in question. However, when not forced to choose between groups, children evaluated out-groups positively, indicating that own-group preference relative to ethnic and racial out-groups was not equated with out-group rejection. Children's positive out-group evaluations did vary with the out-group being considered and were reflective of the local social context, suggesting the influence of social learning. The results indicate that young children's positive feelings toward their own group do not necessarily involve or cause negative out-group attitudes and that various factors might differentially influence in-group and out-group attitudes.

The development and consequences of stereotype consciousness in middle childhood

Two studies including an ethnically diverse sample of 202 children ages 6 to 10 examined the development and consequences of children's awareness of others' stereotypes ("stereotype consciousness"). Study 1 revealed that between ages 6 and 10, children's ability to infer an individual's stereotype increases dramatically. Children's awareness of broadly held stereotypes also increases with age, and children from academically stigmatized ethnic groups (African Americans and Latinos) are at all ages more likely be aware of broadly held stereotypes than children from academically nonstigmatized ethnic groups (Whites and Asians). Study 2 revealed that among children from stigmatized ethnic groups aware of broadly held stereotypes, on 1 of 2 challenging cognitive tasks and self-reported effort, diagnostic testing conditions led to stereotype threat effects.

Close relationships between Asian American and European American college students

The authors examined attitudes and behaviors regarding close relationships between European and Asian Americans, with a particular emphasis on 5 major subgroups of Asian Americans (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Filipino Americans). Participants were 218 Asian American college students and 171 European American college students attending a culturally diverse university. The European Americans did not differentiate among the various subgroups of Asian Americans. Their attitudes regarding close relationships were less positive toward Asian Americans than toward Mexican and African Americans, a finding contrary to the prediction of social exchange theory (H. Tajfel, 1975). In contrast to the European Americans' view of homogeneity among Asian Americans, the 5 major subgroups of Asian Americans expressed a distinctive hierarchy of social preference among themselves. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for future research on interethnic relations involving Asian Americans.

Individual differences in race schematicity as predictors of African American and white children's race-relevant memories and peer preferences

Race schematicity, memories for racially stereotyped portrayals, and race-based peer preferences of 70 young children (32 African American, 38 White) were assessed. Consistent with schema-based models of stereotyping, race schematicity was positively and significantly associated with memory distortions of racial stereotype-inconsistent drawings into stereotype-consistent ones. Conversely, race schematicity was negatively and significantly associated with accurate memories for racial stereotype-inconsistent content, and with memory distortions of racial stereotype-consistent portrayals into stereotype-inconsistent ones. As predicted, race schematicity was positively and significantly associated with same-race peer preference bias, as was children's age in months. Results support application of the schematicity construct and relevant social psychological research with adults to the study of young African American and White children's racial stereotyping and processing of race-relevant information.

Shades of meaning: skin tone, racial attitudes, and constructive memory in African American children

For many decades, researchers have argued that white racism affects African American children's racial attitudes and self concept. To examine the effects of negative majority-culture stereotypes of race on young African American children's intra-racial attitudes, elementary school-age children (N = 56) were asked to recall information embedded in stories that was either consistent or inconsistent with cultural stereotypes of lighter- versus darker-complexioned African Americans. To test the importance of individual differences and cognitive variables, children were later given measures of interracial attitudes, self-perceived skin tone, skin tone selection, and classification skill. As predicted, children showed better memory for stereotypic than counterstereotypic information about skin tone. Individual differences in the extent to which this memory bias was evident varied in relation to children's (a) endorsement of negative majority-culture views of African Americans and (b) self-ratings of skin color. The research has important theoretical implication for understanding racial attitude and identity development, and has applied implications for the design of multicultural programs for African American, as well as Euro-American, children.

Skin-color preferences and body satisfaction among South Asian-Canadian and European-Canadian female university students

Skin-color preferences and body satisfaction among 100 South Asian-Canadian and 100 European-Canadian female university students were examined. South Asian-Canadian females were found to desire lighter skin than they possessed and had lower body satisfaction compared with European-Canadian females. Among South Asian-Canadians, the desire to be lighter skinned was greater the more participants differed from the cultural White ideal. Light- and medium-skinned South Asian-Canadians had the highest and lowest levels of body satisfaction, respectively.