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

种族隔离、紧张和歧视在美国社会继续存在。这个项目探讨了种族不和谐如何从文化传播到儿童。这个项目使用了一个新的范例来研究如何微妙的-但反复出现的-在儿童电视种族间不和谐的预防有助于儿童的种族间关系在童年中期（7至10岁）的侵蚀。拟议的研究不仅旨在确定儿童之间的种族间不和谐的原因，但也可能告知媒体为基础的干预措施，以改善儿童的interracial relationships.This project focused on televised precautions of emotional discortions in cross-racial interactions as one potential cultural source of racial bias.一项初步研究记录了儿童电视节目如何在同种族互动中一致地描绘“共享”情感表达，而不是跨种族互动。暴露于这种模式的情感分歧可能会影响儿童的种族间的信念和行为。在三个拟议的实验中，研究人员使用文化快照范式来测试这种因果关系。7 ~ 10岁的儿童被随机分配观看简短的电视片段，这些片段描述了（a）情感分歧，（B）情感趋同（在同种族和跨种族互动中共享情感），或（c）没有人类（对照）。暴露于情感分歧（相对于其他条件），预计会导致儿童经历减少种族间的同情和增加对种族间互动的负面期望。研究人员预测，后一种影响将导致儿童对其他种族同龄人的支持和友好行为减少。研究小组还将评估调节变量和中介变量，允许对这一一般预测进行细致入微的假设检验。最终，这些研究寻求关键信息的原因，种族不和的儿童和一个潜在的手段，以减少这种discord.This奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准的支持。

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.