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Developing cognitions about race: White 5‐ to 10‐year‐olds' perceptions of hardship and pain
Author(s) -
Dore Rebecca A.,
Hoffman Kelly M.,
Lillard Angeline S.,
Trawalter Sophie
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
european journal of social psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.609
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1099-0992
pISSN - 0046-2772
DOI - 10.1002/ejsp.2323
Subject(s) - white (mutation) , psychology , perception , race (biology) , african american , racial group , value (mathematics) , developmental psychology , cognition , racial differences , ethnic group , social psychology , racial bias , gender studies , psychiatry , political science , sociology , biochemistry , chemistry , ethnology , neuroscience , machine learning , computer science , law , gene
Abstract White American adults assume that Blacks feel less pain than do Whites, but only if they believe that Blacks have faced greater economic hardship than Whites. The current study investigates when in development children first recognize racial group differences in economic hardship and examines whether perceptions of hardship inform children's racial bias in pain perception. Five‐ to 10‐year‐olds ( N = 178) guessed which of two items (low versus high value) belonged to a Black and a White child and rated the amount of pain a Black and a White child would feel in 10 painful situations. By age 5, White American children attributed lower‐value possessions to Blacks than Whites, indicating a recognition of racial group differences in economic hardship. The results also replicated the emergence of a racial bias in pain perception between 5 and 10. However, unlike adults', children's perceptions of hardship do not account for racial bias in pain perception.