This week we discussed social action. We learned about many important psychological contributions to the civil rights movement that had a very positive impact on racial and gender equality. In class on Friday we watched videos of various tests performed to determine if people have a preference toward a particular race. These experiments were designed to recreate the work of Kenneth Clark's doll experiment. The results of these tests are a little shocking and upsetting. It was heart breaking to watch an African American child describe the white doll as good and nice while the African American doll was described as bad. Some of the tests, such as the computerized version, seem like they could have some confounds based on the order of presentation but it is powerful to see multiple tests with multiple generations report basically the same results. it is too bad that we have these preferences and possible prejudices still present in our society. Even th emost well meaning people who would never dream of any racial thoughts or actions still show a preference. These preferences may be due to exposure to popular media and most of us would be completely unware that our experiences would have caused any preference to develop at all. I think it is ok to have these preferences as long as you are able to recognize that you have them, understand that they are unfair, and work to keep them from influeincing your thoughts and actions as best as you can.
Here is a link to the wiki for Jane Elliots brown eye, blue eye experiment.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Elliott
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I too was kind of shocked how children were still reacting to dolls-- white vs. brown dolls and which they associated with good and bad.
ReplyDeleteI thought that by this day and age our opinions would be more varied and have grown along with our culture's growth in America. Sadly, however, children are still reacting in surprising ways regarding race and what's acceptable or considered "good".
Clearly our society is still not as accepting as we think. Plus, even in class "white" is considered to be pure and "black" is considered bad or evil. Why the connotations still to this day? Do we need to change our perceptions?????