Poster #196 - Implicit Racial Bias Predicts Hypodescent among Preschool-age Children

• In Event: 1-061 - Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Section - Social Cognition

Integrative Statement

Introduction.
The increasing rates of interracial marriage have resulted in an emerging population of bi- and multiracial people (Sears & Savalei, 2006; Thornton, 2009). The way bi- and multiracial people are categorized affects how they are treated (Chen & Ratliff, 2015; Roberts, Williams, & Gelman, 2016) and determines whether their self-verification needs are met (Remedios & Chasteen, 2013). The principle of hypodescent has been used to define racial categories of bi- and multi-racial people, meaning that the race of mixed-race person corresponds to that of a “socially subordinate” parent group (Davis, 1991; Harris, 1964). However, it remains an open question whether the racial categorization of bi- and multiracial people occurs similarly in more homogenous societies such as China. It is also less known about the rule of hypodescent in children.
The present study. We addressed these issues by examining racial categorizations of biracial people among children from societies that differ in degree of racial diversity. Specifically, we focused on three samples in two distinct cultures: China and Canada.
Participants. We recruited 137 preschool-aged children from China (N = 71, 32 girls, Mage = 5.41) and Canada (N = 66, 37 girls, Mage = 5.05).
Methods. We used two race categorization tasks: the parent-absent biracial categorizations in which judgments are based on photos of biracial persons, and the parent-present tasks, in which judgments are based on photos of biracial persons’ grandparents. We also assessed children’s implicit racial bias by Implicit Racial Bias Test (Qian et al., 2015).
Results. We found evidence of hypodescent among preschool-aged children in both cultures, such that children in China and Canada categorized Asian-White biracial individuals as Asian. We also found that among Chinese children, greater pro-White bias predicted more hypodescent of categorizing Asian-White individuals as Asian.
Implications. These studies contribute tour understanding of the process of categorizing multiracial people among preschool-age children and provide important insight into how children’s racial biases might affect their social categorizations of racially ambiguous people. Given the rapid racial diversification of the world, understanding how both adults and children come to perceive and categorize multiracial individuals has important societal implications.

Authors

• Miao Qian, University of Toronto
  Presenting Author

• Alison Chasteen, university of toronto
  Non-Presenting Author

• Genyue Fu, Hangzhou Normal University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Kang Lee, University of Toronto
  Non-Presenting Author