The Emergence and Development of Social Group Attitudes

描述（由申请人提供）：本研究调查幼儿对特权的态度在社会群体态度（包括社会阶级和种族态度）的发展和维持中的作用。现在有相当多的证据表明，经验和感知的偏见和歧视有助于精神和身体健康问题（综述见Mays等人，2007年）。因此，为了改善身心健康，减少群体间冲突，减少偏见和歧视符合我们的最大利益。为此，本提案探讨了偏见背后的一种潜在机制，即偏爱特权阶层的普遍倾向。先前的研究表明，对特权的偏好在3岁时出现（奥尔森等人，2008年），甚至在特定的社会群体态度出现之前（例如，Aboud，2003年）。为当前假设提供进一步支持的是，研究发现，尽管多数群体的儿童在态度出现时就表现出对自己种族群体的明显偏好，但少数群体的儿童并非如此（Aboud，1988年）;少数群体的儿童没有偏好，甚至有轻微的亲外群体偏好。对这种不对称的一个可能的解释是对社会地位的理解。而社会地位和自己的群体偏好的情况下，多数群体的儿童可能会收敛，社会地位和自己的群体偏好的情况下，少数群体的儿童分歧，可能会导致共同的结果，没有种族偏好。基于这两个发现，拟议的研究测试这一假设，亲特权的态度有关，并可能有助于社会阶层和种族态度的发展。为了验证这一假设，将进行两项研究。第一项研究采用了横断面设计，以检查出现的亲特权，种族和社会阶层的态度在白色和黑色的儿童之间的42个月和60个月，预测亲特权的态度将存在于大多数儿童从最早的年龄，而种族和社会阶层的态度将出现以后。相关分析将评估亲特权态度的个体差异是否预测种族和社会阶层态度的个体差异。接下来的研究探讨了5-10岁的白色和黑人儿童中亲特权和种族态度之间的关系。通过调查年龄较大的儿童的这些态度，可以使用更广泛的措施，包括内隐和外显的种族态度的措施，问卷（改编自成人社会认知工作）评估特权的偏好，以及年龄适当的措施，类似于研究1中使用的，以评估特权和种族的态度之间的关系。这项工作将共同探讨一个新的机制，具体的社会群体的态度，对特权的普遍积极态度。 公共卫生相关性：几十年的研究表明，实际和感知的偏见和歧视与身心健康的下降有关（Armstead，Lawler，Gorden，Cross，& Gibbons，1989; Brody，et al.，2006年，Harrell，Hall，& Kristaferro，2003年; Krieger，1990年; Krieger & Sidney，1996年; Szalacha，Erkut，科尔，Alarcon，Fields，& Ceder，2003年; Troxel，马修斯，Bromberger，& Sutton-Tyrrell，2003年）。目前的研究调查了种族和社会阶层态度发展的一种可能机制，这种态度助长了偏见和歧视，即对特权阶层的普遍偏爱。如果发现这种机制有助于社会态度的发展，这项研究将为未来的干预研究提供信息，这些研究旨在通过针对特权阶层的潜在态度而不是特定的种族或社会阶层态度的干预，在儿童早期开始之前减少偏见。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): This research investigates the role of young children's attitudes toward privilege in the development and maintenance of social group attitudes including social class and racial attitudes. There is now considerable evidence that experienced and perceived prejudice and discrimination contribute to mental and physical health problems (for a review see Mays et al., 2007). Therefore, to improve physical and mental health, as well as to reduce intergroup conflict, it is in our best interest to reduce prejudice and discrimination. Toward this end, the current proposal explores one potential mechanism underlying prejudice, a general tendency to prefer the privileged. Previous research suggests that a preference for the privileged emerges by age 3 (Olson et al., 2008), even before specific social group attitudes emerge (e.g., Aboud, 2003). Lending further support for the current hypothesis is research finding that whereas majority group children show a distinct preference for their own racial groups, as early as attitudes emerge, this is not true of minority group children (Aboud, 1988); minority group children instead show no preference or even a slight pro-outgroup preference. One possible explanation for this asymmetry is an understanding of social status. Whereas social status and own group preference are likely to converge in the case of majority group children, social status and own group preference diverge in the case of minority group children, possibly leading to the common result of no racial preference. Building on these two findings, the proposed studies test this hypothesis that pro-privileged attitudes are related to and potentially contribute to the development of social class and racial attitudes. To test this hypothesis two studies will be conducted. The first study employs a cross-sectional design to examine the emergence of pro-privileged, racial, and social class attitudes in White and Black children between the ages of 42 and 60 months, predicting that pro-privileged attitudes will be present in most children from the earliest age, whereas racial and social class attitudes will emerge later. Correlational analyses will assess whether individual differences in pro-privileged attitudes predict individual differences in racial and social class attitudes. The next study examines the relationship between pro-privileged and racial attitudes in White and Black children aged 5-10. By investigating these attitudes in older children, a wider range of measures can be used including both implicit and explicit racial attitude measures, questionnaires (adapted from work in adult social cognition) assessing the preference for the privileged, as well as age-appropriate measures similar to those used in Study 1, to assess the relationships between attitudes toward privilege and race. Together this work will examine a new mechanism underlying specific social group attitudes, a general positive attitude toward privilege. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Decades of research have indicated that actual and perceived prejudice and discrimination are associated with reduced physical and mental health (Armstead, Lawler, Gorden, Cross, & Gibbons, 1989; Brody, et al., 2006, Harrell, Hall, & Taliaferro, 2003; Krieger, 1990; Krieger & Sidney, 1996; Szalacha, Erkut, Coll, Alarcon, Fields, & Ceder, 2003; Troxel, Matthews, Bromberger, & Sutton-Tyrrell, 2003). The current research investigates one possible mechanism underlying the development of racial and social class attitudes that contribute to prejudice and discrimination, a general preference for the privileged. If this mechanism is found to contribute to the development of social attitudes, this research will inform future intervention studies aimed at reducing prejudice before it starts in early childhood, by aiming interventions toward the underlying attitude toward the privileged, rather than the specific racial or social class attitude.