NSF Award
2213870
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.<br/><br/>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.<br/><br/>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.
