How Colorblind and Structural Messages Affect Children's Reasoning About Novel Group Disparities

Children experience a variety of messages about racial-ethnic socialization from their parents, teachers, and other sources, who might not answer children's questions about race, or might explicitly promote the idea that race does not matter. However, how such messages affect children's reasoning about disparities, including whether children attribute disparities to intrinsic differences between groups, remains unclear. We contrast the effects of hearing common messages, such as no explanation and colorblindness, with the effects of hearing a structural explanation, which highlights a typical cause of such disparities. Here, we examine the impact of these messages by exposing 7- to 10-year-olds (n = 90) to a scripted parent-child conversation about an achievement disparity between novel groups that used one of these messages. After hearing no explanation or colorblindness, children overwhelmingly provided intrinsic explanations and interventions, attributing the underperformance of one group to their intrinsic capacities, and encouraging them to work harder. However, after hearing a structural explanation that the underperforming group lacked sufficient resources, children shifted away from such intrinsic attributions and towards more extrinsic explanations and interventions, such as calling for change in the larger society. Overall, colorblindness and no explanation seem to be ineffective in reducing children's intrinsic reasoning about group disparities. Instead, structural explanations may be a more constructive approach to counter racial stereotyping. SUMMARY: Messages common in racial-ethnic socialization, for example, no explanation and colorblindness, may be ineffective in suppressing children's intrinsic reasoning, which could support stereotypes. We tested whether structural explanations are more effective by embedding each of these messages in a prescripted conversation about an achievement disparity between novel groups. Children who heard no explanation or colorblindness engaged in intrinsic reasoning, while those who heard structural explanations were more likely to engage in structural reasoning. Contrary to many parents' beliefs, no explanation and colorblindness are ineffective; structural explanations could be a more effective strategy for racial-ethnic socialization.