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¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r1 · q3 · i3 large
Currency · newest study 2010 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person · overdue for a recheck since 2015: baselines and conditions change

Subclaims¶

q3 i3 Out-group stereotyping differed by age group (simple effect, F(3, 85) = 12.38, p < .0001, η2 = .30): 7–10-year-olds (M = .67) exhibited more out-group stereotyping than both younger groups, while 6–7-year-olds (M = .60) exhibited more than 3–5-year-olds (p < .001) and only marginally more than 5–6-year-olds (p = .08). → Pauker 2010 q3 i? In-group stereotyping showed no reliable age group differences (F(3, 85) = .994, p = .40, η2 = .03). → 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 · r1

Cross-sectional ANOVA of stereotyping scores in 89 children ages 3–10 (four age groups: preschoolers n=21, kindergarteners n=36, 1st graders n=16, 2nd–4th graders n=16), recruited from suburban public elementary schools and the local community outside Boston, Massachusetts. Simple-effects tests on the Group × Age group interaction showed "age group differences were reliable for out-group" stereotyping with a large printed effect size, η2 = .30, but not in-group stereotyping (η2 = .03).

"Follow-up simple-effects tests used to clarify this interaction indicated that age group differences were reliable for out-group, F(3, 85) = 12.38, p < .0001, η2 = .30, but not in-group stereotypes, F(3, 85) = .994, p = .40, η2 =.03."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Age and Developmental Stage — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes

Related Claims¶

• Children's essentialist reasoning about racial change increased with age, and essentialist reasoning about others (but not the self) predicted out-group stereotyping — 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) — a narrower finding that bears on this claim
• 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
• Racial justification (merely noticing and describing racial differences) did not uniquely predict out-group stereotyping, unlike functional sorting by race — related