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

种族隔离，紧张和歧视继续存在于美国社会，本项目探讨种族不和谐如何从文化传播到儿童。本项目采用一种新的范式来研究儿童电视节目中对种族间不和的微妙但反复出现的描述是如何导致儿童在儿童中期（~7至10岁）种族间关系的侵蚀的。拟议的研究不仅旨在确定儿童之间种族间不和的原因，而且可能为改善儿童种族间关系的媒体干预提供信息。这个项目关注的是跨种族互动中情感不和谐的电视描述，这是种族偏见的一个潜在文化来源。一项初步研究表明，儿童电视节目始终如一地描绘了同种族互动中“共同的”情感表达，而不是跨种族互动。暴露于这种情感差异模式可能会影响儿童的跨种族信仰和行为。在三个拟议的实验中，使用文化快照范式测试了这种因果关系。7-10岁的儿童被随机分配观看简短的电视片段，其中描绘了(a)情感分歧，(b)情感趋同（同一种族和跨种族互动中的共同情感），或(c)没有人类（对照组）。暴露于情感差异（相对于其他条件）预计会导致儿童经历减少的跨种族同理心和增加的对跨种族互动的负面期望，反过来，导致儿童对其他种族同伴的支持和友好行为减少。还测量了调节变量和中介变量，允许进行细微的假设检验。最终，这些研究提供了关于儿童种族不和谐的原因的关键信息，以及减少这种不和谐的潜在方法。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Racial segregation, tension, and discrimination continue to persist in U.S. society and 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 documents that 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, this causal relationship is tested using the cultural snapshots paradigm. Children aged 7-10 years 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, and in turn, cause reductions in children’s supportive and friendly behaviors toward other-race peers. Moderator and mediator variables are also measured, allowing for nuanced hypothesis-tests. Ultimately, these studies provide 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.