Modifiable processes underlying the development of race bias

• In Event: 1-141 - Harnessing cognitive biases to promote positive attitudes and behavior

Integrative Statement

Racial bias emerges between ages 4-10 in the United States, but with substantial variation across individuals and communities. The goal of the present research is to identify psychological processes that explain variation in the development of race bias (e.g., why some children become more biased than others), with an emphasis on processes that are modifiable, and thus could be targeted via interventions to prevent the development of racial bias and ameliorate some of its negative consequences.

Previous work has identified that exposure to race-related status hierarchies (Shutts, 2015) and to people from diverse backgrounds within one’s own community (Mandalaywala et al., 2018) relate to variation in the development of racial biases. Because changing these factors is beyond the scope of psychological intervention, here we focused on two related, but modifiable, psychological processes: (a) children’s explanations for race-related status hierarchies, and (b) children’s perceptions of social norms regarding social interaction.

In an initial cross-sectional study with children ages 4-8 (N = 66), we found that racial bias increased with age among children who endorsed essentialist explanations for status differences (Figure 1). That is, among children who thought that a Black family lived in a less nice house than a White family, for example, because of something intrinsic to those families, warmth towards pictures of Black children declined with age. In contrast, among children who instead endorsed structural explanations–for example, that the families lived in those houses because of some rule that existed a long time ago–we found no age-related increase in racial bias.

We also found an effect of children’s perceptions of social norms. In particular, children who expected that their friends would choose to play with Black children were also more likely to choose to do so, but these effects were particular to children who were themselves from diverse (and in particular, non-white) backgrounds (see Figure 2).

Overall, children’s explanations for status hierarchies and their beliefs about peer norms are promising processes for possible interventions to target the development of racial bias. In addition to the findings of this cross-sectional study, this talk will also discuss a longitudinal follow-up of these children, as well as on-going efforts to work with community partners to translate these findings into testable interventions.

Authors

• Marjorie Rhodes, New York University
  Presenting Author

• Michael Rizzo, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Emily Green, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Yarrow Dunham, Yale
  Non-Presenting Author

• Emile Bruneau, University of Pennsylvania
  Non-Presenting Author