Reducing Racial and Gender Implicit Biases: The Effects of Multicultural Education on a Child’s Preferences and Occupational Aspirations

This project explored the effect of reducing implicit racial and gender bias and the impact on children’s occupational preferences and aspirations. Participants included fifty-two children aged three, four, and five years old from the Connecticut College Children’s Program in New London, Connecticut. The initial hypothesis theorized that children, regardless of race and gender, would have a preference towards White and male individuals as being “good or nice,” and for most occupational roles. The children would also have a prejudice against individuals of color as being “naughty or bad,” and for most occupational roles. The other hypothesis theorized that after children received multicultural occupational literature intervention, their implicit biases would decrease, especially for children of color, female children, and three year old children. The results of this study showed that the children who received multicultural occupational literature intervention reduced their negative implicit biases and caused them to increase their occupational preferences for themselves and others, in comparison to the children who did not receive the literature intervention. Ultimately, this study expresses the effect that early multicultural literature can have on positively impacting racial and gender attitudes in young children