Stimulus Predifferentiation and Modification of Children's Racial Attitudes

KATZ, PHYLLIS A. Stimulus Predifferentiation and Modification of Children's Racial Attitudes. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1973, 44, 232-237. The prediction that increased perceptual differentiation of other-group faces could reduce prejudicial attitudes was tested. The Ss were 96 black and white secondand sixth-grade children who previously obtained high prejudice scores on 2 racial attitude measures. They were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 training conditions: (a) learning distinctive names for photographs of other-race faces; (b) making same-different judgments of facial pairs, or (c) observing the faces without labels. Race of E was varied within each group. Attitude tests were subsequently readministered, and findings confirmed the hypothesis. Posttest prejudice scores of the labeling and perceptual training groups were lower than those of the control Ss. Additionally, several interactions revealed that this treatment effect was influenced by both developmental level and race of E.