Stages of Racial Awareness and Prejudice

 

Infants: Self-Awareness

 Recognize familiar people and show fear of strangers

 Recognize and actively expl ore faces to discern “what is me” and what is not me”

 Developing a sense of trust in the world

 Experience and show fear and anger

 

Toddlers: Identify self as an individual

 Experience and show shame

 Are sensitive and “catch” feelings from adults

 Begin to mimic adult behav ior

 Ask “What’s that?”

 

Twos: Identify people wit h the words, me, mine, and you

 Need independence and a sense of control

 Recognize physical characteristics

 Classify people by gender

 Learn names of colors

 Can tell the difference between black and white

 May begin to use social labels

 

Threes and Fours: Better at noticing differences among people

 Can identify and match people according to their physical characteristics

 Ask “why” questions

 No gender or ethnic constancy ( don’t know that gender and skin color remain constant throughout life)

 Susceptible to believing stereotypes

 Make false associations and overgeneralize

 Mask fear of differences with avoidance, silliness

 

Fives and Sixes: Understand cultural identity and enjo y exploring cultural heritage

 Can identify stereotypes

 Explore real and pretend, fair and unfair

 Tend toward rigid thinking and behavior

 Show aggression through insults and name -calling

 

Sevens to Nines: Gender and racia l constancy

 Understand group membership, form groups to distinguish the mselves from others

 Can consider multiple attributes

 Aware of racism against own group

 Ask “What are you?”

 Want/need a wealth of accurate information

 Developing personal strength

 

Nines to Twelves: Interest ed in, and aware of, world events

 Interested in ancestry, history, and geography

 Can put self in another’s shoes

 Aware of cultural/political v alues

 Understand racism

 Can compare and contrast minority/majority perspective

 Can use skills to take social action

 

 

Source: York, S. (2006). Roots & wings: Affirming culture in early childhood programs. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Important Note: At age ten, racial

attitudes tend to stay constant unless the

child experiences a life-changing event.

 

Four Explanations for Children’s Pre -Prejudiced Behavior

 

 

Children as Models Children imitate the prejudiced comments and behavior they see

from their parents, other adults, and older children in their lives.

 

 

 

 

Children as Mirrors Children’s prejudiced behavior and thinking is a reflection of

society’s values, attitudes, and prevailing stereotypes. They mimic

what is seen and heard on TV, read in books, and lived out through

situations.

 

 

 

 

Children as Victims Children, who themselves have been shamed and humiliated by

adults and older children, transfer their anger and negative feelings

onto others who they see as less powerful and less desirable. This

is especially true of children living in families with rigid rules and

dominating parents who don’t allow the child to express feelings of

anger, hurt, and sadness.

 

 

 

 

Children as Limited Thinkers Cognitive development follows a predictable sequence from

simplistic thinking to more complex reasoning. Preschoolers can

only understand the world and other people from their own

experience and are likely to confuse facts and focus on irrelevant

details. Young children reach false conclusions about the world

because they build their own beliefs by making incorrect

associations between events and ideas.