91ŃÇÉ« researcher says talking to children about race and racism in age-appropriate ways can help combat biases

TORONTO, Feb 1 2023 — Children as young as five can display more positive associations with white children over Black children on measures of unconscious bias and this can be true even when taking into consideration kids’ tendencies to favour same-gender peers. Taking an own-gender lens does, however, increase positive associations towards Black children, pointing to both the persistence of anti-Black racism, but also its contextual nature.  

“I think for many Black parents this would not be a surprising finding, given their own lived experience,” says lead author Jennifer Steele, psychology professor with 91ŃÇɫ’s Faculty of Health. “Racism continues to persist in our society and children are picking up on that. What it also points to is kids looking at race through a lens that can come in and out of focus, depending on what they are paying attention to.”

Steele has studied racial bias since she was a graduate student at Harvard and has led multiple studies on children’s implicit biases around race at 91ŃÇÉ« as director of the University’s . While she acknowledges that it can be uncomfortable to think of young children as displaying racial bias, she says it can be useful to acknowledge and discuss issues of racism on the path to tackling them.

“We like to believe that children are innocent beings that are naive to many of the realities in the world, and at times they are. But simultaneously, they're watching the way the world works and they are picking up on things that adults transmit, sometimes unintentionally. So, in some ways it’s surprising, in some ways it’s not that surprising that they start to show racial biases from quite early in development.”

For the study, recently published in the American Psychological Association’s Developmental Psychology, more than 200 non-Black children were recruited to complete an Implicit Association Test used to measure unconscious bias. Children were shown pictures of Black children, who they did not know and who were their same gender, and pictures of white children who were not their gender. That is, girls saw Black girls and white boys, while boys saw Black boys and white girls. Steele and her research partner found that the level of bias depended largely on how children thought about the faces.

When the girls were asked to think of the Black girls as girls, their positive associations increased relative to white boys, but when asked to think of the Black girls as Black, they favoured the white boys. The boys in the study showed the same pattern of own-gender favouritism when they were asked to think about Black boys and white girls as boys and girls. But racial bias was still found when these same faces were seen through the lens of race.

These findings suggest that racial bias can persist, but can also come in and out of focus, making it sometimes harder to consistently identify. While not explored in this particular study, Steele says that one important way for parents and educators to work on reducing bias, is through representation and having age-appropriate conversations about race.

“It is important for children to see many examples of the diversity of amazing people, from all walks of life, who contribute positively to our society,” she says.

About 91ŃÇÉ«

91ŃÇÉ« is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change, and prepare our students for success. 91ŃÇɫ’s fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario’s Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. 91ŃÇɫ’s campuses in Costa Rica and India offer students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future.

Media Contacts: Emina Gamulin, 91ŃÇÉ« Media Relations and External Communications, 437-217-6362, egamulin@yorku.ca

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91ŃÇÉ« U research sheds light on how racial prejudice develops

TORONTO, Monday, November 27, 2017 – Do children show implicit racial preferences from an early age? According to new research from 91ŃÇɫ’s Faculty of Health, they do. In three separate studies with over 350 five to twelve-year-old White children, 91ŃÇÉ« researchers found that children show an implicit pro-White bias when exposed to images of both White and Black children. But the type of bias depended on what children were asked to do.

The research was conducted by Professor Jennifer Steele in the Faculty of Health and her former PhD student, Amanda Williams now at the School of Education, University of Bristol. Steele says the goal of the research was to gain a better understanding of children’s automatic racial attitudes.

In the research published in the journal , a total of 359 White 5- to 12-year-olds completed child-friendly category-based (Implicit Association Test) and exemplar (Affective Priming Task; Affect Misattribution Procedure) implicit measures of racial attitudes.

When children were asked to sort faces by race on the category-based Implicit Association Test, both younger (5- to 8-year-olds) and older (9- to 12-year-olds) showed greater automatic positivity toward White as opposed to Black children.

“When we ask children to categorize by race, both younger and older White children show a pro-White bias. They are faster to match pictures of children who are White with positive images and pictures of children who are Black with negative images, relative to the reverse pairing,” said Steele.

However, when they were not categorizing these faces by race, a different pattern of implicit preferences was found. On these exemplar measures, children were asked across many trials to quickly decide whether neutral images were pleasant or unpleasant. Just before seeing each neutral image, children briefly saw a picture of a Black or White child. On these implicit measures, children showed no evidence of automatic negativity toward images of Black children, despite demonstrating consistent pro-White versus Black bias on the category-based measure.

“On these measures, only younger White children show racial preferences. This was specifically a positive attitude towards other White children, and not a negative attitude towards Black children.”

The researchers also found that older children, aged 9 to 12, weren't automatically positive toward other White children, which Steele says is consistent with other findings suggesting that individual characteristics, such as shared interests, become more important as children get older. Together, the results suggest that positive and negative racial attitudes can follow distinct developmental trajectories.

The findings can have important implications for programs designed to prevent or decrease prejudice in childhood. Specifically, Steele believes that interventions designed to decrease negativity towards other races might not be the best approach for younger children. Instead, interventions should encourage children to see members of other groups positively as well, although she believes that more research examining interventions is needed.

“In early childhood what we know is that children tend to be egocentric and socio-centric. They think that they’re great and that other people who are like them are great too. That’s why we recommend using interventions that don’t challenge these beliefs, but instead promote the fact that people from different backgrounds or who look different than them often have a lot in common and they can be great too."

She adds that this can be very important in the classroom.

“It is important that classroom teachers promote the benefits of diversity and expose children to positive role models from all different backgrounds. We live in an increasingly multicultural society and exposure to this diversity – even through books or media – can make children more comfortable with this diversity. Children have some awareness of race from an early age, so research suggests that taking a colour-blind approach – or pretending that race doesn’t exist – is not the best approach.”

Steele adds that classroom teachers should both create and seize opportunities to celebrate diversity and promote multiculturalism for their students.

is known for championing new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-discipline programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. 91ŃÇÉ« students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world’s most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91ŃÇÉ« U is an internationally recognized research university – our 11 faculties and 26 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, 91ŃÇÉ« is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 295,000 alumni. 91ŃÇÉ« U's fully bilingual Glendon campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

Media Contact: Anjum Nayyar, 91ŃÇÉ« Media Relations, 416 736 2100 ext. 44543 anayyar@yorku.ca

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