This is a simple study in which two identical dolls are placed before several black children. Each child was asked questions of opinion about the dolls. The only difference between the two dolls is that one is white and the other is black. The results are surprising.
By some means, majority of the children interviewed in the 1940's saw themselves as looking more like the white doll. White was more beautiful than black and they would have rather of had a white doll. But now, 60 years later, an even greater majority identified with the black doll.
So it would seem we have come a long way in making black and white races feel that neither is superior over the other.
I feel like this is good progress in the sense that slowly, over the years, black children are gaining a better respect for themselves that had been stolen away by the culture of the early United States. However, in relation to the questions concerning personality over looks, there is still the issue of picking one to be nice and one to be mean based off of color. I think as though it is natural to feel that one would be more so attracted to someone of the same race generally speaking, but to feel that whether or not someone is nice or mean based off of color is wrong. So referring to race in looks, feeling as though the doll of the same color is "more beautiful" is good! But until it is more common that both dolls are equally nice or equally mean, we still have much work to do.
As a student of psychology, I had a hard time taking this video at face value. These kids seemed old enough to know exactly what they were being asked - the one boy even straight up said 'the only difference is the color of their skin'. So did they really feel the way they said they did, or were they doing what they thought was expected of them?
ReplyDeleteAnother issue is the bias of the researchers - there is a 'self-fulfilling bias' where researchers OFTEN unconsciously use verbal and nonverbal cues to elicit desired results. Still another issue is the placement of the dolls. You'd think this wouldn't matter, but which doll was on the right or left makes a significant difference even though people never think of such a thing.
One thought I had at the end of the video was why it's a bad thing for people to prefer a doll with different color skin than their own? Would we think it's a bad thing for a white little girl to prefer dark skinned dolls? I doubt it. We might be surprised, but I think we'd might actually be quick to praise such a preference. Is someone racist if they like the color of their skin? Does someone have low self-esteem if they like the color of someone else's skin? I think this study might be reading too much into the results. Perhaps it's just the psychologist in me that's taking issue with this though. I do think it's important for kids to think they're nice and beautiful. But I also think it's important for kids to think that others are the same way. I would've liked the study better if they'd asked the kids whether both dolls were nice, pretty, etc. The way they asked which was good and which was bad seemed to me as though they were wanting the kids to say black is better than white or vice versa rather than neither is better than the other.
I found this video to be very interesting. In a way I think its hard to judge full racial opinions on little dolls. I think the majority of the dolls are white and thats maybe what the little kids are used to. I did like that results that showed in 2009 a lot more of the kids liked both of them and did not really have a preference.
ReplyDeleteChelsea Traveller
This video certainly shows some sense of growth in progress within our society when it comes to discrimination based on skin color. The results of the two studies show that kids today have become a lot less cultured to prefer one over the other, but I think one of the biggest issues I find with this video is that despite what the kids say and choose in reference to which doll they prefer and/or deem "prettier" or "nicer," I still feel the real issue is found in the older generations. Ok, so our kids are becoming more accepting of different races, but what does that say about society as a whole? Can we claim that the parents of these kids feel the same way? Will the kids grow up with this same view point or will something be triggered down the road after a few more years and they will no longer have this view of good and bad dolls. This video definitely shows progress and I'm glad that there was much more equal preference between the two dolls, but there still stands the issue of how this applies to our society as a whole.
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