Kids' test answers on race brings mother to tears

[Namahottie]

http://edition.CNN.com/2010/US/05/18/doll.study.parents/index.html

A 5-year-old girl in Georgia is being asked a series of questions in her school library. The girl, who is white, is looking at pictures of five cartoons of girls, all identical except for skin color ranging from light to dark.

When asked who the smart child is, she points to a light-skinned doll. When asked who the mean child is she points to a dark-skinned doll. She says a white child is good because "I think she looks like me", and says the black child is ugly because "she's a lot darker."

How many parents would subject their children to this sort of testing? And for what reasons? What are your thoughts or experiences with your kids growing up in Taiwan and how intelligence and other attributes are measured?

[Jaboney]

"Subject their children to this sort of testing? And for what reasons?" The test was designed by a child psychologist to investigate perception. It doesn't seem to have anything to do with measuring intelligence, only perception. Why "subject"?

Her daughter is taking part in a new CNN pilot study on children's attitudes on race and her answers actually reflect one of the major findings of the study, that white children have an overwhelming bias toward white...

Biased towards self: that's unsurprising.

...and that black children also have a bias toward white but not nearly as strong as the bias shown by the white children.

Now that's interesting. I'd like to know why that is.

[Namahottie]

"Subject their children to this sort of testing? And for what reasons?" The test was designed by a child psychologist to investigate perception. It doesn't seem to have anything to do with measuring intelligence, only perception. Why "subject"?

Her daughter is taking part in a new CNN pilot study on children's attitudes on race and her answers actually reflect one of the major findings of the study, that white children have an overwhelming bias toward white...

Biased towards self: that's unsurprising.

...and that black children also have a bias toward white but not nearly as strong as the bias shown by the white children.

Now that's interesting. I'd like to know why that is.

So if this was done in Taiwan or based on your own experiences working with children in Taiwan what do you think the outcome would be?

[Funk500]

I wonder how much of it is to do with perception and socio-economic conditions etc?

I have no idea of the area where they are from, but could it be that her experience of African-Americans is they don't work too hard at school ?(in her area). I only say that because I have read (although I don't have any references to hand) that African-American men are perennial underachievers in education as a group. I seem to recall seeing Bill Cosby having an interview with Larry King about it last year saying there needs to be some sort of shift towards better academic role models for black youth or whatever. Forgive me if my choice of words aint great.

I wonder if they did the study and showed these pictures:




and asked who was the most intelligent. They'd go for number 3 "because he looks more like me".

[djlowballer]

Regarding the study, the results don't surprise me. I spent my early years in the poorer areas of Charleston and the ATL. If gave me the same test I would say white is the smarter one every time. When all you see is black people acting like this:

It isn't hard to see why a child would think that maybe white people are smarter. I would bet it is similar reasons why black children in the NYC area also had the "White Bias". I think tests like these are absurd.

[Bubba 2 Guns]

I wonder how much of it is to do with perception and socio-economic conditions etc?

I have no idea of the area where they are from, but could it be that her experience of African-Americans is they don't work too hard at school ?(in her area). I only say that because I have read (although I don't have any references to hand) that African-American men are perennial underachievers in education as a group. I seem to recall seeing Bill Cosby having an interview with Larry King about it last year saying there needs to be some sort of shift towards better academic role models for black youth or whatever. Forgive me if my choice of words aint great.

I wonder if they did the study and showed these pictures:




and asked who was the most intelligent. They'd go for number 3 "because he looks more like me".

I look like #2..

[Bubba 2 Guns]

Regarding the study, the results don't surprise me. I spent my early years in the poorer areas of Charleston and the ATL. If gave me the same test I would say white is the smarter one every time. When all you see is black people acting like this:

It isn't hard to see why a child would think that maybe white people are smarter. I would bet it is similar reasons why black children in the NYC area also had the "White Bias". I think tests like these are absurd.

She needs to read a book NSFW http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlKL_EpnSp8

[Namahottie]

Regarding the study, the results don't surprise me. I spent my early years in the poorer areas of Charleston and the ATL. If gave me the same test I would say white is the smarter one every time. When all you see is black people acting like this:

It isn't hard to see why a child would think that maybe white people are smarter. I would bet it is similar reasons why black children in the NYC area also had the "White Bias". I think tests like these are absurd.

Thanks djlowballer, you just generalized a group of people. And being in those poorer areas you didn't see poor behavior across the board?


Did you ever think that the young white girl tended to think whites are smarter because she was seeing it as a reflection of herself? As Jaboney remarked:

Biased towards self: that's unsurprising.

[Wookiee]

This is a documentary along the same lines, Nama, et al.
It is a bit long, but worth the time.

http://documentarystorm.com/psychology/ ... t-are-you/

[Namahottie]

This is a documentary along the same lines, Nama, et al.
It is a bit long, but worth the time.

Thanks but I don't think the issue mentioned in the OP is about racism/bigotry. I think this is more about identity or how we form identity, which in turn can be a foundation for racism/bigotry.