Implicit Attitudes

Although it appears that racial attitudes have decreased among adults, implicit attitudes have been found to reveal racial preferences (Baron & Banaji, 2006). As children age, explicit attitudes generally decrease over time. Hirschfeld (as cited in Baron & Banaji, 2006) found that the concept of race has begun to develop by the age of five. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) measures implicit attitudes in adults, including categories such as race. Baron and Banaji (2006) investigated when the first evidence of implicit attitudes is revealed in children. I will be summarizing their study about comparing implicit and explicit attitudes in children and adults.
The study wanted to search for the development of implicit associations in regards to racial categories in both positive and negative contexts. The experiment consisted of 79 participants overall; 27 kindergartners, 30 fifth graders, and 22 adults. Baron and Banaji (2006) modified the IAT to be suitable for children by using voice recordings instead of words and using colour-coded response buttons. Evaluative concepts (good/bad) were introduced for each group. One control group consisted
They demonstrated that children are already internalizing the implicit messages in their environment from at least six years old. Despite the type of exposure as children get older, their implicit attitudes do not change. This study has large implications about determining the necessary interventions for racial bias. It implies that early life experiences are important in regards to implicit acquisition. One limitation from the study may be that the children’s results were due to familiarity of the words rather than preference. Future studies may sample Black children in an isolated Black community. Other studies may familiarize children to novel social groups then test their implicit