Children's essentialist reasoning about racial change increased with age, and essentialist reasoning about others (but not the self) predicted out-group stereotyping¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q3 · i3 large
Currency · newest study 2010 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q3 i3 Reasoning type changed across age groups for both judgments of the self (χ2(9, n = 68) = 21.68, p = .01, ϕ = .56) and others (χ2(9, n = 68) = 31.04, p < .001, ϕ = .68), with older children primarily using essentialist reasoning. → Pauker 2010 q3 i1 Only essentialist reasoning about others predicted out-group stereotyping (r = .26, p = .03); essentialist reasoning about the self did not predict in-group or out-group stereotyping (rs = −.07, .15; both ps > .21). → Pauker 2010

Evidence¶

Pauker 2010¶

Pauker, K., Ambady, N., & Apfelbaum, E. P. (2010). Race Salience and Essentialist Thinking in Racial Stereotype Development. Child Development, 81(6), 1799–1813. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01511.x

q3 · i3 · associational · r2

Chi-square analyses comparing the frequency of reasoning types (none, superficial, essentialist, idiosyncratic) across four age groups in 68 subjects, reported in the Essentialist Reasoning subsection. Reasoning type "changed across age groups" for both self and other judgments with large printed effect sizes, ϕ = .56 and ϕ = .68; older children primarily used essentialist reasoning (e.g., 6–7-year-olds: Mself = 78.6%, Mother = 85.7%).

"Both judgments of the self, χ2(9, n = 68) = 21.68, p = .01, ϕ = .56, and others, χ2(9, n = 68) = 31.04, p < .001, ϕ = .68 changed across age groups."

Discussion¶

Related Claims¶

• Children begin applying racial stereotypes to out-groups around age 6, with out-group stereotyping increasing across age groups while in-group stereotyping shows no reliable age differences — related
• Racial justification (merely noticing and describing racial differences) did not uniquely predict out-group stereotyping, unlike functional sorting by race — related
• Sorting by race, racial constancy for self, and racial constancy for others uniquely predicted out-group stereotyping in a hierarchical regression controlling for age, sex, ethnicity, and classification skill — related
• Children in the two oldest age groups used out-group stereotypes above chance (50%), with the largest effect among 7–10-year-olds (r = .80) — related