Developmental origins of racial and gender bias in very young children and how it unfolds

This project addresses how, and how early, racial and gender biases emerge in young children and how they are shaped by the linguistic and social communities (families, schools, neighborhoods) in which children are raised. The fellowship will provide an opportunity to analyze and discuss new evidence from a recent series of studies with very young children growing up in Chicago. One goal is to submit this for publication, and to outline two additional pieces: (i) a broad review piece, aimed at a wide social scientific and policy-oriented audience, and (ii) a series of OpEds aimed at teachers and parents of young children who are hungry for insights about how to talk with their children about race. A second goal is to “move the dial forward” by designing a new interdisciplinary research proposal that integrates robust behavioral evidence from young children from the lab with rich information concerning their exposure to racial diversity in their families, neighborhoods and schools. The goal is to deepen our theories of development and to promote positive sustainable outcomes for children living in the diverse social environments that constitute the human experience.