Racial Identity Formation and Ingroup Preferences in Preschoolers

• In Event: Development of Social Cognition

Abstract

In the United States, in the past year, there have been protests seeking racial justice in reaction to the systemic racism in the country. And the pandemic has made the disparities faced by different races even more apparent.

Singapore is a tiny multiracial city-state which offers a unique model of multiculturalism - racial harmony has been institutionalized as the social norm in Singapore. Will there be any racial biases among children growing up in Singapore? I will present findings from the first study where we examine if children’s categorization of faces by race will predict their implicit racial bias. In the second study, we examine if other-race contact such as a live-in nanny who provides daily caregiving to the child reduces explicit racial biases in preschoolers. I will use these findings to suggest ways in which we may reduce implicit and explicit ingroup preferences in preschoolers.

Author

• Peipei Setoh, Nanyang Technological University
  Presenting Author