The Psychology Book (89 page)

282

WHO TEACHES A CHILD

TOHATE AND FEAR

A MEMBER OF

ANOTHER RACE?

KENNETH CLARK (1914–2005)

IN CONTEXT

D
uring the late 1930s,

Kenneth Clark and his

wife, Mamie Phipps Clark,

APPROACH

studied the psychological effects of

Race attitudes

segregation on African-American

BEFORE

schoolchildren, particularly on their

1929
German-born writer and

self-image. They designed a “doll

social worker Bruno Lasker

test” that would indicate children’s

publishes
Race Attitudes in

awareness of racial differences and

Children
, setting up methods

their underlying attitudes about

for the psychological study of

race. Working with children

children’s views on race.

between the ages of three and

seven, they used four dolls, each

Early 1930s
Canadian

identical in appearance except for

psychologist Otto Klineberg

Clark’s doll experiments
of the late

the color of their skin, which ranged

1930s and early 1940s showed that black

works with lawyers fighting

from shades of white to dark brown.

children in segregated schools often

for equal salaries for black

The children showed an undeniable

preferred white dolls, a sign that they

public-school teachers.

awareness of race by correctly

had absorbed prevailing prejudices.

identifying the dolls on the basis of

AFTER

their skin color, as well as

that this reflected the children’s

1954
The US Supreme Court

identifying themselves in racial

tendency to absorb racial prejudices

rules that racial segregation in

terms by choosing the doll that

that exist in society and then to

schools is unconstitutional,

looked most like them.

turn this hatred inward, the Clarks

in the
Brown v. Board of

In order to explore the children’s

asked a very important question:

Education of Topeka
hearings.

attitudes about race, the Clarks

“Who teaches a child to hate and

asked each of them to point out the

fear a member of another race?”

1978
Elliot Aronson devises

doll they liked best or most wanted

the “jigsaw method” of

to play with; the doll that had a nice

Passing on prejudice

teaching—where mixed-race

color; and the doll that looked bad.

The Clarks sought to understand

groups of students work

Distressingly, black children

the influences shaping prejudice

interdependently—to help

showed a clear preference for the

in America, and decided that as

reduce racial prejudice in

white dolls and a rejection of the

children learn to evaluate racial

integrated classrooms.

black dolls, which can be interpreted

differences, according to the

as indirect self-rejection. Convinced

standards of society, they are

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 283

See also:
Elliot Aronson 244–45 ■ Muzafer Sherif 337

In 1930s America, white

By the age of three,

and even black children

children are
racially

showed a preference for

aware
and already

whiteness and a
rejection

forming
prejudices
.

of blackness
.

Kenneth Clark

Kenneth Clark was born in

the Panama Canal Zone, but

Segregation and

moved to Harlem, New York,

social influences
from

Who teaches

when he was five. After his

parents, teachers, playmates,

a child to hate

mother refused to accept a

and the media lead to

and fear a member

ruling that her son would be

children internalizing

of another race?

limited to trade or vocational

racist attitudes.

schooling, Clark was enrolled

in high school. He went on

to earn a master’s degree in

psychology from Howard

required to identify with a specific

The Clarks concluded that these

University, Washington DC,

group, and each racial group has an

attitudes are determined by a mix

where he met his wife. The

implied status within a hierarchy.

of influences, including parents,

pair carried out research

That young black children preferred

teachers, friends, television, films,

together, becoming the first

the white doll showed they were

and comics. Although it is very rare

African-American man and

aware American society preferred

for parents to deliberately teach their

woman to receive a PhD in

psychology from Columbia

white people, and had internalized

children to hate other racial groups,

University in New York City.

this. Children as young as three

many subtly and unconsciously

They also founded child

had expressed similar attitudes to

pass on dominant social attitudes.

development and youth

those of adults in their community.

Some white parents, for example,

opportunity centers in Harlem.

may discourage their children

Clark was also the first

from playing with their black peers,

African-American to hold a

implicitly teaching them to fear

permanent professorship at

and avoid black children.

the City University of New

Clark’s 1950 summary of his

York, and to serve as the

research insisted that segregation

president of the American

Segregation is a way

was damaging the personalities of

Psychological Association.

in which society tells

white and black children alike. His

a group of human beings

expert testimony in court cases

Key works

that they are inferior.

tied into the 1954
Brown v. Board

Kenneth Clark

1947
Racial Identification and

of Education of Topeka
case, which

Preference in Negro Children

determined that racial segregation

1955
Prejudice and Your Child

was unconstitutional in public

1965
Dark Ghetto

schools, contributed directly to

1974
Pathos of Power

desegregated schooling and to the

Civil Rights Movement in America. ■

284

GIRLS GET

BETTER GRADES

THAN BOYS

ELEANOR E. MACCOBY (1917– )

IN CONTEXT

But because girls tend to put in

APPROACH

a greater effort at school, and

Feminist psychology

have greater interest and

There is no

better work habits…

significant difference

BEFORE

in the overall

Early 20th century
First

intellectual aptitude

research into sex differences

of boys and girls.

by female psychologists.

…girls get better grades

1970s
Studies of the sexes

than boys.

tend to emphasize differences

between men and women.

AFTER

between the sexes are in fact

1980s
Studies suggest

myths, and that many gender

structural differences between

T
he emergence of feminist

psychologists during the

1970s revived an interest in

stereotypes are untrue. Although

the male and female brain.

the study of sex differences, which

some findings had shown boys to be

1993
Anne Fausto-Sterling

had waned during the rise of

more aggressive and more adept at

claims biological graduations

behaviorism. Feminist concerns

mathematics and spatial reasoning

exist between “male” and

became increasingly important to

than girls, and girls to have superior

“female,” such that we can

US psychologist Eleanor Maccoby.

verbal abilities, subsequent studies

identify five different sexes

Frustrated by the tendency of

revealed that these differences

along the spectrum.

psychological literature to report on

are either negligible or are more

research findings that emphasized

complex than they initially appear.

2003
Simon Baron-Cohen

the differences between men and

One difference that was

argues that the female brain is

women rather than the similarities,

consistent and undeniable was

predominantly hard-wired for

Maccoby, with student Carol

that “girls get better grades than

empathy, and the male brain

Jacklin, reviewed more than 1,600

boys” in school. Maccoby found

for understanding systems.

studies of gender differences. They

this particularly interesting,

published their findings in
The

especially considering that girls

Psychology of Sex Differences
(1974)

did not obtain higher aptitude test

with the aim of showing that what

scores when all of the subject

most consider essential differences

matter areas were reviewed.

DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY 285

See also:
Janet Taylor Spence 236 ■ Simon Baron-Cohen 298–99

Girls show greater responsiveness

to teacher’s expectations and are more

willing to work, according to Maccoby’s

research, which makes them more

likely to do better at school than boys.

Intellectual development

Furthermore, previous research into

in girls is fostered

achievement motivation seemed to

by their being

suggest that boys should outperform

assertive and active.

their female peers. Males were

Eleanor E. Maccoby

arguably more oriented toward

achievement for its own sake

than girls, showing greater task

involvement, and more exploratory

behavior; females were primarily

interested in achievement relating

to interpersonal relationships—