Baby discrimination and social perception

Bronson, P. & Merryman, a. (2009). "See my baby discriminate." Newsweek 14 September, pp. 53-60.

This article begins with a summary of a 2006 research study conducted in Austin, Texas by Brigitte Vittrup, on the effects of multicultural videos and parental discussions about race with their children. The study included approximately one hundred families with children five to seven years old, and these were divided into three groups -- one received videos of Sesame Street and similar programs with scenes specifically geared towards improving multicultural and racial understanding and acceptance, the second group received both the videos and a set of talking points about race that were to be used to engage in nightly conversations with their children, and the third group received only the talking points. Surprisingly, families in this third group started dropping out of the study because they didn't want to point race out to their children in this manner. According to Vittrup's preliminary tests, however, these children had already developed a concept of race and in fact already made judgments on the basis of skin color.

Initial results showed the same attitudes remaining unchanged in the children in the other groups. It turned out that parents weren't really able to talk to their children about race, feeling uncomfortable saying anything beyond the vague "everybody's equal." For the six families that actually did manage to have in-depth discussions with their children about race, the children showed a dramatic improvement in their perception of race in just a single week. Studies have shown that non-white parents in the United States are three times as likely to discuss race as white parents, and this appears to have a huge formative effects on a child's perception of race at an incredibly early age, with huge implications for society at large as they grow up.

Much of this appears to come down to a child's natural impulse to categorize the elements of their world. In a study conducted by Vittrup's mentor, tree pre-school groups were randomly given blur and red shirts, half for each, that they wore for three weeks. Without any reinforcement or encouragement from instructors, and indeed without even showing outward changes in behaviors or attitudes, the children showed a clear preference for their own "group" based on interviews at the end of the study. This suggests a certain "in-group favoritism" already at work by the age of three years old. In another experiment, decks of cards depicting people were split by children into two groups any way they wished; 68% divided the cards according to race. The color difference is something children notice naturally, and not talking about it only piques their curiosity until the moment comes when they are given a key to the difference.

Simple exposure to diversity is not an adequate method for eliminating the perception of racial divisions. In fact, studies that examined the levels of integration in schools found that the more diverse a student population was, the more likely the students were to self-segregate based on race. That is, with more people of other races around them, students of all races were more likely to be friends solely or primarily with members of their own racially identified group. Larger studies have concluded that white males in high school list another white male as their best friend ninety-two percent of the time, with African-American males coming in at an only slightly lower percentage of 85% towards self-selecting friends of their own race. All of this leads the authors to suggest that children be talked to about race the same way they are talked to regarding gender, with regular reinforcement of equality without ignoring the issue altogether.

Still more research and anecdotal evidence suggests that such conversations need to be completely explicit and understandable. "Everybody is equal" doesn't mean a lot to a five-year-old, and learning that Jackie Robinson was the first African-American player in the Major Leagues without learning about his relegation to the Negro leagues or the racism he suffered from white players and fans doesn't accurately reflect the historical race struggle or affect children's thinking regarding race to the same degree. The issue is similar for minority parents, though most help their children to develop a racial identity at a much earlier age. Over-warning of possible discrimination, however, could tip the scales in the opposite direction and create the perception of a hostile world that will automatically be reacted to defensively. Installing ethnic pride, however, can be very beneficial for all children's self-confidence.