Given the extent to which fear and resentment of other races is driving our politics, it’s an excellent time to revisit a key question: Are such attitudes inherent, or learned? A 2017 study from China suggested the former, finding infants as young as nine months show preferences for people with skin tones that resemble their own.
A new, much larger study offers more hope for humanity. It reports that American five- and six-year-olds largely reject the belief that an individual’s personality and abilities are determined by one’s skin color.
The results suggest such beliefs—which are potential precursors to prejudice—“are the product of protracted developmental processes, and require ample cultural input,” writes a research team led by Tara Mandalaywala of New York University. In other words, bigotry is an acquired attitude.
[For more on this story by TOM JACOBS, go to https://greatergood.berkeley.e..._have_racist_beliefs]
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