Preference for high status predicts implicit outgroup bias among children from low-status groups

Area of Science:

• Social Psychology
• Developmental Psychology
• Cross-cultural Psychology

Background:

• Racial status hierarchies significantly influence intergroup attitudes.
• Low-status groups often exhibit no implicit ingroup preference, potentially due to awareness of their societal position.
• Extreme status differentials may alter bias development in children from marginalized groups.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate implicit intergroup bias in Black and Coloured South African children.
• To examine the relationship between implicit bias and explicit attitudes toward racial and status groups.
• To test the hypothesis that pronounced status differences lead to implicit outgroup bias in low-status children.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Implicit Association Test (IAT) to measure implicit intergroup bias in 78 children aged 6-11.
• Assessed explicit attitudes toward racial groups and socioeconomic status (rich vs. poor).
• Compared White vs. Black and White vs. Coloured group associations.

Main Results:

• Both Black and Coloured children displayed an implicit pro-White bias, indicating sensitivity to status differentials.
• Implicit pro-White bias was observed even when comparing two higher-status outgroups (Black children evaluating Whites vs. Coloureds).
• Explicit preference for high status correlated with implicit pro-White bias, especially in comparisons between two outgroups.

Conclusions:

• Children's implicit intergroup attitudes are sensitive to societal status hierarchies.
• Pronounced racial status differences can lead to outgroup favoritism in children from low-status groups.
• Attitudes toward social status play a role in shaping both implicit and explicit intergroup biases in developing children.