Impact of implicit racial messages in storybooks on children's racial bias

An exploratory study sought to examine the impact of subtle racial bias in illustrated storybooks on racial attitudes in children. The current study proposed a theoretical framework, which integrated Social Identity and Social Learning theories, the Developmental Intergroup Theory, and Cognitive Constructionist theory. The framework relied on concepts such as implicit and explicit bias and automatic and controlled processing. The dissertation tested this theoretical framework in study with a sample of 163 first through third grade students recruited from two school districts. The students were assigned to two conditions. Conditions varied by the order in which the two stimulus storybooks were read. In the first condition students were first read a storybook presumed to be unbiased and completed an adjective assignment task regarding a White and Black character from the story. Then students were read a storybook presumed to be biased and completed the same task regarding characters from the biased storybook. The second condition read the same two books and completed the same tasks, only in reverse order. Data analyses employing t-tests suggested children rated the White character more positively than the Black character in the unbiased book, and the unbiased book yielded more polarized opinions of characters. Results also suggested children were more positive to the White character in the unbiased book compared to the White character in the biased book and more negative to the Black character in the unbiased book than in the biased book. Spearman Rho correlation analyses were employed to explore relationships between demographic variables and the dependent variables. Limitations and implications were also discussed.