Early intergroup coalition: Toddlers attribute fair distributions to Black rather than White distributors

Abstract

Racial concepts emerge in preschool age, and affect children's evaluations of others’ actions. This research investigated whether 2.5-year-old and 7-year-old children's (N = 160; 100% White) evaluations may be influenced by an initial racial bias when both out-group and in-group protagonists were evaluated directly by attributing the responsibility of negative or positive outcomes (i.e., fair or unfair distributions of resources). After seeing each of two familiarization events, displaying fair and unfair distributions performed by a hidden distributor, toddlers were asked to assign positive and negative outcomes to two distributors that were portrayed on drawings (Experiment 1) or photographs (Experiments 2–3) of White or Black faces. Seven-year-old children were assessed with the same forced-choice character task by using photographs (Experiment 4). Toddlers showed a significant tendency to attribute a fair distribution of resources to Black faces only when these were shown by photographs. Conversely, 7-year-olds manifested a pro-White/anti-Black racial bias. These findings support prior literature on the age-related development of race prejudice starting not before the three years of life, and shed light on an initial state that is aimed at intergroup coalitions.