Hello, pennyandbob-ga!
Thank you for a very interesting question. The following references
provide evidence that very young children can appreciate racial
differences and begin to form perceptions in early life. I hope you
find them helpful as you nurture your son and watch him grow.
===
From "Racial awareness and social identity in young children." Davey
AG. Ment Health Soc. 1977;4(5-6):255-62.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=615932&dopt=Abstract
"There is a growing body of evidence which demonstrates that racial
awareness and even racial repugnance can be well developed in children
of four or five years of age. The semi-projective techniques employed
by some investigators have encouraged disputes in interpretation, but
the substantive findings of out-group preference by the minority
accompanied by pronounced ethnocentricity on the part of the majority
is well supported by many sociometric studies. Since a child's sense
of his social identity can only be achieved within the context of the
system of preferences and biases which exist in a society, it will be
argued that the development of prejudice in children is a product of
the normal, necessary and rational process of progressively ordering
the environment into manageable categories and their need to
comprehend their place within it."
==
An excerpt from "The Perception of "Racial" Traits. Essays on the
Color Line and the One-Drop Rule," by Frank W Sweet. July 17, 2004
http://www.backintyme.com/Essay040717.htm
"What are the stages through which children learn to perceive and
later to articulate what their culture sees as "racial" traits?
"Racial" perception develops similarly to most of the cognitive
abilities identified by Piaget and others in five major respects.
First, like the ability to recognize that one jar can hold more liquid
than another, some form of "racial" feature recognition appears in
every culture. Second, contrary to folk belief, the ability begins to
emerge in very early childhood. Third, it forms gradually in stages.
Fourth, with maturity it becomes so entrenched and cognitively
automatic that the individual can no longer introspect how it is done.
Fifth, it eventually becomes rationalized into a theory-like knowledge
structure that sustains inferences about category members that go
beyond direct experience."
"On the other hand, the perception of "racial" traits differs in two
important ways from other cognitive abilities that emerge in early
childhood. First, although the pattern of development is stable across
diverse cultures, the content of "racial" perception varies
dramatically (as Eugene Robinson learned). Second, although "racial"
perception first appears in infancy, it becomes theory-like relatively
late in childhood. Naive theories of biology (dogs beget puppies, cats
beget kittens, etc.), of physics (big jars hold more than small jars),
and of mind (mothers cannot really read thoughts), in contrast,
develop years earlier than those of "racial" group membership."
"Experiments with 3-, 4- and 7-year-olds from the U.S. Midwest show
that even toddlers believe that "racial" traits are more firmly fixed
for life than are occupation or body type. This is important because
it shows that counterfactual belief starts early in life. In the
children?s own experiences (attending an integrated school) skin color
and hair texture do in fact change over a person?s life (most kids
darken at puberty) whereas body type (which correlates with the global
latitude of ancestry) does not change. Nevertheless, belief in the
permanence of "racial" traits starts by age 3 and grows stronger with
age. This demonstrates that, although cognition of "racial" traits may
use some of the mechanisms of naive biology, the former does not
depend on the latter, nor does it spring merely from observation of
the world."
"Other experiments show a strong social membership component (as
opposed to a presumed biological component) of "racial" perception.
Thirty-six 3-, 4-, and 6-year-olds were presented only with speaking
voices. They were then asked to tell whether each unseen speaker
resembled previously depicted individuals with preponderantly European
traits or those with preponderantly African features. Although all of
the voices were unintelligible, some used muffled English syllables
and others used Portuguese sounds. Midwestern U.S. children (members
of both the Black and the White endogamous groups) associated
Portuguese-sounding speech with African appearance."
Read further....
==
From "Activities that Promote Racial and Cultural Awareness," by
Barbara Biles, M.Ed.
http://www.pbs.org/kcts/preciouschildren/diversity/read_activities.html
"The foundation of self-awareness is laid when children are infants
and toddlers. At these stages, children learn "what is me" and "what
is not me." Toddlers are sensitive to the feelings of the adults
around them, and they begin to mimic adult behavior. By age two,
children recognize and explore physical differences. They are also
learning the names of colors, and they begin to apply this to skin
color. Natural curiosity will lead to questions about differences."
"THE PRESCHOOL YEARS (age 3 and 4). Children of this age are better at
noticing differences among people. They have learned to classify, and
they tend to sort based on color and size. They can't yet deal with
multiple classification, so they get confused about the names of
racial groups and the actual color of their skin. They wonder why two
people with different skin tones are considered part of the same
racial group. Many preschool children will comment - in words or
through actions - on hair texture, eye shape, and other physical
characteristics. They want to know how people got their color, hair
texture, and eye shape."
"Children at this age believe that because other parts of their body
grow and change, skin color and other physical traits could also
change. Some young black children prefer white dolls over black dolls
(Clark, 1963). More often than white children, they may say that they
don't like their skin color, hair texture, or another physical trait."
** "By age four, children begin to prefer one race."
==
The following Australian study is very interesting. I have simply
provided the conclusion below, but please read the entire article.
From "Exploring young children?s ?racial? attitudes in an Australian
context - the link between research and practice," by Anna Urszula.
Edith Cowan University. AARE 2001 Conference.
http://www.aare.edu.au/01pap/tar01193.htm
Conclusion:
"This research demonstrated that children as young as three years old
used a number of physical characteristics including ?racial? cues when
categorising people. Among the latter cues, the most common appeared
to be skin colour, older children however, also applied other
characteristics such ?racial? physiognomy or belonging to a certain
?racial? group."
"Although nearly all children noticed ?racial? differences, such
awareness was not necessarily linked to children?s potential
friendship choices or evaluation. Knowing about such differences did
not seem to imply their negative evaluation. This seems to be
consistent with ?racial? attitude development model proposed by Katz
(1976), which suggests that during early childhood years different
components of attitudes may develop independently."
"However, it has been also found that some children who used ?racial?
cues more often than any other characteristics during categorising
tasks, ignored other differentiating factors and made consistent
negative friendship choices in relation to children perceived as
?racially? different. This appears to suggest that even at such an
early age some children accentuate ?racial? differences so much that
they are unable to see others as individuals."
"Salience of ?racial? cues and their negative evaluation seemed to
increase with age; it has been found however that even at three years
of age some children began to attach negative labels and feelings to
such perceived differences. All the above appears to suggest that it
is of prime importance to provide children with opportunities not only
to become aware of ?racial? differences but also to see them as
something important and valued."
"Although all children demonstrated their awareness of ?racial?
differences, with age they appeared to be more reluctant to openly
discuss such differences as well as their feelings and social
preferences towards them. This seems to demonstrate the important role
of socialisation in the process of learning ?racial? attitudes.
Children appear not only to absorb adults? attitudes towards
difference at an early age; they also learn how socially appropriate
or inappropriate it is to openly state them."
"As some seven-year-old participants displayed their strong negative
evaluation of ?racially? different peers and made negative potential
friendship choices more consistently than the younger participants, it
can be suggested that the environmental factors rather than immature
cognition play crucial role in the development of prejudice."
==
Also read "Children as young as 3 have ?complex understanding of
race?. The University Record. 1993
http://www.umich.edu/~urecord/9293/Mar29_93/22.htm
===
From "HOW OUR CHILDREN LEARN RACISM." ALONG THE COLOR LINE. MAY 2004
http://www.manningmarable.net/works/may04a.html
"The 1997 article by L. Hirschfeld, "The Conceptual Politics of Race:
Lessons From Our Children," published in the journal Ethos documented
that most three-year olds and virtually all four-year olds could match
photographs of children of various racial identities with pictures of
their birth parents, when presented with photos of parents of
divergent racial groups. In other words, children have the ability to
"naturalize" race, and to connect a person?s identity with a
particular racial categorization."
===
From "How Racial Identity Affects School Performance," by Pedro A.
Noguera. Harvard Education Letter. March/April 2003
http://www.edletter.org/past/issues/2003-ma/noguera.shtml
"Awareness of race and the significance of racial difference often
begins in early childhood. We know from psychological research that
the development of racial identity is very context dependent,
especially in the early years. Children who attend racially diverse
schools or reside in racially diverse communities are much more likely
to become aware of race at an earlier age than children in more
homogeneous settings. 1 Interacting with children from other racial
and ethnic backgrounds in a society that has historically treated race
as a means of distinguishing groups and individuals often forces young
people to develop racial identities early. However, prior to
adolescence they still do not usually understand the political and
social significance associated with differences in appearance. For
young children, being a person with a different skin color may be no
more significant than being thin or heavy, tall or short."
===
Though there are no citations attached to the following article, it is
still of interest:
From "Helping Children Develop a Sense of Identity." Early Childhood Today.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/ect/identity.htm
"In diverse families and communities, children come to expect a degree
of variation in how people look, feel, and sound, viewing such
variation as normal. They understand their world is comprised of both
high and deep voices, dark skins and light ones. Children spending
their early years in more homogenous families and communities come to
associate the human face, voice, and touch with a particular skin
color or tone. By age three, many children can put their reactions to
skin color into words. They not only notice their own, but also
mention how theirs is different from that of other people."
"Just as they learn about differences between colors and shapes,
children are also beginning to categorize people. Many three- and
four-year-olds talk about physical differences between themselves and
others, between boys and girls, skin colors, hair textures, and eye
shapes. By the time children are in the early grades, they've begun to
comprehend racial differences consciously. The development of
children's identity is tied to all of this observation."
Read futher...
===
From "Helping Children Develop Cultural Competence." Ohio State
University Fact Sheet. http://ohioline.osu.edu/flm00/fs05.html
"Most adults are surprised to hear that between the ages of 2 and 5,
children become aware of cultural and ethnic differences. Not only do
children at this age become aware of differences, they also begin to
recognize which differences are valued and which are not. At this
developmental stage, the misconceptions, discomfort, fear, and
rejection of difference is called pre-prejudice. However, if adults do
not intervene with children at this time, pre-prejudice can develop
into real prejudice."
Additional Reading
===================
"Teaching Diversity: A Place to Begin," by Dora Pulido-Tobiassen and
Janet Gonzalez-Mena. Early Childhood Today.
http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/ect/placetobegin.htm
"Do You See What I See? Appreciating Diversity in Early Childhood
Settings," by Barbara Kupetz, Ed.D. Earlychildhood.com
http://www.earlychildhood.com/Articles/index.cfm?A=147&FuseAction=Article
"TEACHING YOUNG CHILDREN TO RESIST BIAS: WHAT PARENTS CAN DO," by
Louise Derman-Sparks, María Gutiérrez, Carol Brunson Phillips.
National Association for the Education of Young Children. 1999
http://www.uua.org/re/reach/parenting/children_resist_bias.html
"When Your Child Notices Differences," by Jenny Matson, Education
Program Manager, Chicago Children?s Museum.
http://www.chichildrensmuseum.org/learn_differences.cfm
Book - "The First R : How Children Learn Race and Racism," by Debra Van Ausdale
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0847688623/102-8633616-5704941?v=glance
===
I hope you find the above references helpful and as fascinating as I
did! If I can help further in the future, please let me know!
Sincerly,
umiat
Search Strategy
racial awareness in young children
research of racial awareness in young children
do young children recognize skin color differences?
research AND children's perception of skin color
research AND age children notice skin color
do young children prefer children of own race
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