The development of intergroup bias

In adults, intergroup biases, such as racial attitudes and gender stereotypes, have been clearly linked to biased behavior. However, attempts to change intergroup bias in adulthood have been relatively unsuccessful, leading researchers to consider whether bias change might be more effective earlier in development. Indeed, children as young as age three show evidence of intergroup bias, and by age six, children have often internalized the biased attitudes and stereotypes of their culture. The following dissertation further examines the development of intergroup bias in order to understand how best to target bias change in childhood. First, in a series of three studies, I test an alternative method of measuring children’s implicit gender stereotypes called the Preschool Auditory Stroop in order to disentangle the specific associations that underlie implicit bias. The first two studies validate the use of this method and indicate that children as young as age three have implicit gender associations about the attributes and toys associated with boys and girls. The third study indicates that this method may be less likely to detect bias than category-based measures like the Implicit Association Test. Next, across four samples, I examine the effect of preschool children’s beliefs about math and gender on their math-related performance. Results conducted on the combined dataset indicate that while only a small number of girls have stereotypes associating math with boys, these girls perform significantly worse on a test of Approximate Number System accuracy when it is framed as a math test rather than a game or an eyesight test. Finally, the last set of studies examine the efficacy of a counter-stereotypical exemplar exposure intervention to reduce bias across development. As compared to adults, 5 to 12-year-old children appear to require less explicit instruction to change their bias. Taken together, this work provides novel insights into the nuanced development of intergroup bias and the malleability of bias in childhood.Arts, Faculty ofPsychology, Department ofGraduat