Race Stereotypes Alive and Well - New America Media
A recent study conducted by noted child psychologist and University of Chicago Professor Margaret Beale Spencer, confirmed again that stereotypes, more specifically, anti-black color phobia, are still very much alive and well. Researchers found that pre-teen white kids had an overwhelming penchant for associating white skin, namely theirs, with anything positive. The blacker the skin, the more likely they were to associate it with anything negative.
The study, commissioned by CNN, duplicated the famed 1947 study conducted by psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark in which black and white children were asked to select white or black dolls as their play preference. Though CNN was careful to note that the study was not a controlled scientific study, there’s no reason to doubt its painful validity. Variations on the Clark’s tests have been conducted through the years. They’ve all found the same thing: black children given the choice of playing with white and black dolls choose white dolls, and the whiter and blonder the doll, the more likely they’ll choose them.
Comments