New study by researchers at the University of Washington.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: Research conducted by the University of Washington shows that babies are, for lack of a better word, racist.
According to the study, entitled “‘I pick you’: the impact of fairness and race on infants’ selection of social partners,” infants that are 15 months old tend to congregates with other same-age babies that are of the same race, a practice known as in-group bias. The study analyzed the social behaviors of several infants, all 15 months old, to determine which factor affected their behavior the most: race, or fairness?
Before the study, it was well known that fairness is an important motivating factor for babies to make friends. A child that shares toys is more likely to attract other children, and will make more friends as a result. Now, however, it seems that race plays a larger part in it than initially assumed.
Forty Caucasian babies were shown two white subjects dividing up a set of toys, one equally and the other very unequally. The babies were then allowed to choose which of the two subjects they’d like to play with, and they favored the one who split the toys equally; in fact, 70% of the babies chose fairness over unfairness, essentially confirming the pre-conceived notion and allowing that facet of the experiment to act as the de facto “control.”
Then, however, a Caucasian and an Asian subject were told to do the same thing, and 80 babies witnessed this. Half of the group saw the white subject treated more fairly, as in they were given more toys, while the other half saw the Asian subject being favored. Then, the same 80 were given the chance to choose their own playmate. The findings indicate that the babies, all Caucasian, tended to side with the white person being treated fairly more than the Asian.
In other words, babies don’t like unfair distribution unless it benefits someone of their own race, according to the study.
“If all babies care about is fairness, they would always pick the fair distributor,” said Jessica Somerville, University of Washington associate professor of psychology and a lead researcher on the study, in a statement. “But we’re also seeing that they’re interested in consequences for their own group members.”
“By 15 months of age infants are sensitive to violations of fairness norms as assessed via their enhanced visual attention to unfair versus fair outcomes in violation-of-expectation paradigms,” the study’s abstract declares. “These findings provide evidence that infants select social partners on the basis of prior fair behavior and that infants also take into account the race of distributors and recipients when making their social selections.”
What does this say about human behavior? Depends on who you ask.
Research has shown that as humans grow and mature emotionally, they tend to choose friends and mates based on personality, which makes sense. But this study shows that, at least on a subconscious level, humans may fundamentally look at race when deciding on a friend or partner, whether they’re aware of it or not. Studies have also shown that babies and humans tend to remember faces better that belong to their own race – is it racism? Or just simple human behavior?
For now, Somerville and co-author Monica P. Burns are hoping that the study simply allows parents to help guide their children in the right direction, showing them that race and skin color don’t have to be deciding factors when it comes to choosing friends and playmates.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com