Children are well known to be highly susceptible to the experiences and opinions they’re surrounded with, so it’s perhaps no surprise that research from New York University highlights that the same is true for racial biases.

The study shows that children who are exposed to racial inequalities in their lives and who believe those inequalities are largely due to intrinsic differences between people are more likely to hold racial biases.

“What’s crucial in the formation of anti-Black biases are the beliefs that children develop to explain why racial inequalities exist,” the researchers explain. “Our findings show that as children observe inequalities in the world around them, those who endorse myths about intrinsic differences between racial groups, in turn, develop beliefs that reinforce racial biases, whereas those who recognize the extrinsic factors underlying racial inequalities develop more egalitarian attitudes.”

Developing biases

The researchers highlight that children are fully capable of developing racial attitudes at a young age, often as young as four. What is less understood is quite why this is and the factors that influence the formation of such beliefs.

They studied the racial attitudes of around 650 white children aged between 4 and 8 to understand their beliefs about the various racial inequalities they see in their communities. The data from each respective community showed that white adults were more likely to earn more and have a college degree than their Black peers.

The children were shown a range of photos of children from different racial backgrounds, before being asked which child they would most like to play with. The children consistently said that they would prefer to play with other white children.

How children think

To try and understand why this might be, the researchers focused on how children think about the various racial inequalities that they see in their communities. The children were shown pictures of Black and white children, including the houses they lived in. Sometimes the Black family would live in a nicer house than the white family, sometimes the reverse would be the case.

The children were then asked why they thought each family lived in their house. For instance, was it because of things to do with their character or external circumstances?

The results suggest that the children were divided between these two possible explanations, but it did appear as though the exposure to racial inequality in their daily lives did influence their answers.

“Beliefs about race emerge early in life and vary among children, so identifying how they form is an important first step in understanding how to prevent racial biases from developing,” the researchers conclude. “Our study shows that as White children are exposed to greater levels of inequality in their daily lives, the beliefs they form to explain what causes those inequalities will shape how they treat people from different racial groups.”