Do children show preference for non-Muslim speakers?

• In Event: Social Preferences in Childhood

Abstract

Young children exhibit biases related to race, gender, social status, physical and psychological similarities, resource levels, and religion (e.g., Horwitz, Shutts, & Olson, 2014; Kinzler & DeJesus, 2013; Kinzler, Shutts, & Spelke, 2012; Reyes-Jaquez & Echols, 2013; Shutts, 2015; Smyth, Feeney, Eidson, & Coley, 2017). However, research on children’s formation of anti-Muslim biases is limited, and there is even less research on how any such biases might intersect with other social biases. Our study investigated children’s willingness to learn from Muslim speakers, whether reliability cues impact their preferences, and whether their preferences change with age. Three- to six-year-old children were introduced through a pre-recorded video to Arab American speakers who were similar to each other in appearance and who spoke standard American English. One of the speakers wore a Muslim head covering and was introduced as Muslim. Participants completed three word-learning phases followed by a survey. The first phase was the pre-reliability phase in which children were introduced to three unfamiliar objects, with each speaker providing a different novel label for each object, and children being asked to select which speaker to learn from. The second phase was the reliability phase, wherein one speaker provided accurate labels and the other speaker provided inaccurate labels for three familiar objects; for half of the participants the Muslim speaker was accurate and for half the non-Muslim was. The final phase was the post-reliability phase, which varied from the first phase only in participants’ newly acquired knowledge of speaker accuracy. Muslim membership, accuracy, novel labels used, and order of speaking were counterbalanced between participants. Speaker likability and Muslim familiarity were assessed with survey questions following the final labeling phase. An anti-Muslim bias was not observed in the pre-reliability phase when the participants only had information about Muslim membership. However, when Muslim status and accuracy information were both present, a strong bias was detected against the inaccurate Muslim speaker (mean preference for the non-Muslim speaker = 0.73, z = 2.84, p <.01. and M = 0.67, z = 2.42, p < .01 for three-to-four and five-to-six year old children, respectively). Additionally, three- to four-year-old children showed a significant anti-Muslim bias when asked about speaker likability, whereas five- to six-year-old children did not, potentially reflecting influences of social desirability in the older children. We currently are collecting data with seven- to ten-year-old children to examine the development of anti-Muslim biases in older children. Recognizing that an anti-Muslim bias exists, at least when paired with other negative factors, in children as young as three years emphasizes the importance of reducing anti-Muslim biases before they develop into discriminatory beliefs and behaviors.

Authors

• Shaden Powell, University of Texas at Austin
  Presenting Author

• Catharine H. Echols, University of Texas at Austin