Collaborative Research: From Culture to Child: How collective perceptions of affective divergence shape interracial relationships in middle childhood

University Of Hawaii, Honolulu

Investigators

Abstract

Racial segregation, tension, and discrimination continue to persist in U.S. society. This project examines how racial discord may spread from culture to child. This project uses a new paradigm to examine how subtle--but recurring--depictions of interracial discord on children’s television contribute to the erosion of children’s interracial relationships in middle childhood (7 to 10 years of age). The proposed studies not only aim to identify a cause of interracial discord among children but may also inform media based interventions for improving children’s interracial relationships. This project focuses on televised depictions of emotional discord in cross-race interactions as one potential cultural source of racial bias. A preliminary study documented how children’s television programming consistently depicts "shared" expressions of emotion in same-race interactions but not cross-race interactions. Exposure to this pattern of affective divergence may influence children's interracial beliefs and behaviors. In three proposed experiments, the investigators test this causal relationship using the cultural snapshots paradigm. Children between 7 and 10 years of age are randomly assigned to view brief television clips depicting (a) affective divergence, (b) affective convergence (shared emotion in both same-race and cross-race interactions), or (c) no humans (control). Exposure to affective divergence (relative to other conditions) is expected to cause children to experience reduced interracial empathy and increased negative expectations for interracial interactions. The researchers predict that this latter effect will cause reductions in children’s supportive and friendly behaviors toward other-race peers. The research team will also assess moderator and mediator variables, allowing for nuanced hypothesis-tests of this general prediction. Ultimately, these studies seek critical information about the causes of racial discord in children and a potential means for reducing such discord. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.