Prejudice: How It Develops and How It Can Be Undone

摘要

There has been a resurgence of interest in the development of intergroup attitudes and relations. Researchers found that even before self-identification takes place, infants as young as three months of age can show a preference for faces that are the same race as theirs. By age 5, children are acting in accordance with social identity theory in that they are motivated to see their in-groups as positive and as distinct from out-groups. Through this and other related studies, researchers are beginning to understand how to undermine prejudice and foster more positive and productive intergroup relations.