Classifying people into categories not only helps humans simplify a complex social world but also contributes to stereotyping and discrimination. This research examines how social categorization develops by testing how language imbues with meaning otherwise arbitrary differences between people. Experimental studies (N = 129) with 2-year-olds…

Can perceptions of equal treatment buffer the negative effects of threat on the school success of minority students? Focusing on minority adolescents from Turkish and Moroccan heritage in Belgium (M[subscript age] = 14.5; N = 735 in 47 ethnically diverse schools), multilevel mediated moderation analyses showed: (a) perceived discrimination at…

Can young children, forming expectations about the social world, capture differences among people without falling into the pitfalls of categorization? Categorization often leads to exaggerating differences between groups and minimizing differences within groups, resulting in stereotyping. Six studies with 4-year-old children (N = 214)…

These studies investigate how the distinction between generic sentences (e.g., "Boys are good at math") and nongeneric sentences (e.g., "Johnny is good at math") shapes children's social cognition. These sentence types are hypothesized to have different implications about the source and nature of the properties conveyed. Specifically, generics may…

The authors explored the emergence and antecedents of racial stereotyping in 89 children ages 3-10 years. Children completed a number of matching and sorting tasks, including a measure designed to assess their knowledge and application of both positive and negative in-group and out-group stereotypes. Results indicate that children start to apply…

"Interpersonal" rejection and "intergroup" exclusion in childhood reflect different, but complementary, aspects of child development. Interpersonal rejection focuses on individual differences in personality traits, such as wariness and being fearful, to explain bully-victim relationships. In contrast, intergroup exclusion focuses on how in-group…

Gender intensification, an increased pressure for adolescents to conform to culturally sanctioned gender roles, has been posited as an explanation for the emergence of the gender difference in depression. This longitudinal study assessed whether 410 individuals became more stereotypical in their gender-role identity across adolescence and whether…

The present study, which included 124 children ages 5-11, examined developmental antecedents and social and academic consequences of stereotype-consciousness, defined as awareness of others' stereotypes. Greater age and more frequent parent-reported racial socialization practices were associated with greater likelihood of stereotype-consciousness.…

Four studies addressed the possibilities that young children use color when attempting to identify another's sex and that children's impressions of people whose sex is known are influenced by clothing color. Findings demonstrated that young children share prevailing societal stereotypes linking colors and sex and that color of clothing influences…

By using a modified Color Meaning Test in which alternative evaluative criteria (animal type as well as animal color) are available, this study examines the hypothesis that children evaluate the color white as positive and the color black as negative. Results with primary school children suggest that the addition of other criteria decreases the…

Investigates processes that might influence the degree of association between preschoolers' sex-role stereotyped toy choices and their choice of same-sex versus opposite-sex playmates. A total of 51 children in preschool classes for four-year-olds were observed during free play over nine weeks. (Author/RH)

Women pregnant with their first child were observed interacting with an infant labeled as either a boy or a girl. Toy use and other maternal behaviors were examined as a function of gender label, women's attitudes regarding gender differences, and infant behavior. (Author/DB)

Addresses the influence of cultural and ecological backgrounds, as mediated by the family, on children's achievement. Contrasts models used to explain academic successes and failures of African-American and Asian-American children. (PCB)

Presents a study of college students' perceptions of parental characteristics. Examines differences in the subjects' perceptions of their mother as opposed to their father. Also examines differences in parent descriptions by sons as opposed to those of daughters. (JMB)

Attractive and unattractive preschool children were judged on appearance by age-mates who were either acquainted or unacquainted with the children being judged. (SB)