By Tarice L. S. GrayThe study, which involved 133 kids in New York and Georgia, revealed disturbing similarities with the Clarks’ original findings. White children assigned positive attributes to white dolls and negative stereotypes to dolls with darker skin. Black children did, too, but to a lesser degree.
Dr. Spencer believes these attitudes are a result of both nature and nurture. “I know that perceptual acuity is very much a part of cognitive development. That part of early development in children’s learning is to differentiate color, to differentiate tones,” she explained. . “So, a kid can learn to differentiate skin tones, but they learned from nurture, from family and contacts, to ascribe particular meanings to those differences. That’s not nature, that’s learned behavior.”
Dr. Spencer said she believes that the nurturing negative racial attitudes is what black families have to combat, and too many African Americans have become complacent over time. Read more...
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