Race and modeling influences on the interpersonal play patterns of boys.

Studied the effects of race and modeling cues on the play patterns of dyads of young boys. 40 White and 38 Black 5th graders were observed during play on the basis of 5 indices of interaction. Black Ss talked significantly less together, faced each other less directly, and interacted at greater interpersonal distances than did White Ss. Racially mixed dyads were intermediate in social distance, talk, and body axis. Biracial dyads observed a televised episode of a Black male adolescent and a White male adolescent play together in a warm or cold fashion. Posttests revealed that Ss viewing the warm interaction were more cooperative, played at a closer distance, faced the other child more directly, gave more eye contact, and talked more frequently than did those who were exposed to the cold modeling videotape. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparative analysis of Black women's and White women's sex-role attitudes.

An assessment of the sex-role attitudes (using J. P. Gump's Revised Fand Inventory) of 77 Black and 40 White female undergraduates refuted the characterization of the Black woman as matriarchal and the White woman as home centered and submissive. Black Ss, in comparison with White Ss, were more likely to define their identity with respect to the roles of wife and mother and were more home centered and more submissive; White Ss expressed significantly more interest in furthering their own development than in fulfilling the traditional role. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Racial and behavioral cues in Black and White children's perceptions of ambiguously aggressive acts.

Examined the way in which the interpretation of ambiguous social behavior is influenced by racial stereotypes and cultural differences. 40 Black and 40 White 6th-grade males were shown a variety of ambiguously aggressive behaviors performed by Black and White stimulus figures. As predicted, both Black and White Ss rated these behaviors as more mean and threatening when the perpetrator was Black than when he was White. In contrast, ratings of personal characteristics were in general determined by individual behavior rather than by group stereotypes, although Blacks, whether they were the perpetrator or the recipient of the behaviors, were rated as stronger than their White counterparts. Cultural differences between S groups were apparent in the greater tendency of the White Ss to read threat into ambiguously aggressive behaviors involving no physical contact and to assume that the perpetrators of such behaviors were stronger than the recipients. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Race, class, and the attributional process.

Two experiments examined the process and content of attributional thinking in Black and White children who differed in socioeconomic status (SES). In Exp I, 171 7th graders subdivided into middle-SES Black, middle-SES White, low-SES Black, and low-SES White groups imagined that they succeeded or failed at an examination, with the cause of the outcome specified. Their perceptions of the dimensional properties of causes (locus, stability, and controllability), expectancy for success, teacher evaluation, and affective reactions were reported. Similar judgments were made in Exp II, with 148 of the Ss from Exp I, in response to actual rather than hypothetical success and failure, and Ss' causal attributions for their performance were reported. Analyses revealed that Blacks did not display a less adaptive attributional pattern than did Whites following actual performance, and no differences existed in Ss' understanding of the meaning (dimensional placement) of causes. A linkage between the locus of causes and affect also was documented in all race?×?SES groups. In contrast, race and class differences occurred in Ss' perceptions of predicted stability–expectancy and controllability–evaluation causal linkages. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Black children's use of nonstandard grammar: Two years later.

A Berko-type task requiring Ss to derive the present, plural, possessive, and time extension forms of nonsense syllables was administered to 115 Black and White 2nd graders and readministered to a subsample of these same children upon their reaching the 4th grade. At both 2nd- and 4th-grade levels, White Ss supplied significantly more standard English responses and Black Ss significantly more hypothesized nonstandard English responses to each of the 4 tasks. Additionally, Ss of both races showed significant increases in standard English usage and significant decreases in nonstandard English usage over the 2-yr period. The possibility that grammatical differences between Black Ss and White Ss might disappear given more time is discussed. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The importance of race and social class information in the formation of expectancies about academic performance.

Studied the perceived locus of control, expected academic performance, and relative importance of 5 causal factors (ability, effort, luck, task difficulty, and quality of instruction) in the academic performance of a stimulus student. Both the race (Black vs White) and social class (middle vs lower) of the stimulus student were varied. Ss were enrolled in elementary education (n = 64) or introductory psychology (n = 64). Results indicate that middle-class Ss were expected to receive higher grades than lower-class Ss (p     

Parents' beliefs about their children's cognitive abilities.

Examined mothers' judgments of their children's cognitive abilities and the relation between such judgments and the child's developmental level. 49 1st-grade children responded to tasks drawn from either the Piagetian literature or the Stanford-Binet IQ tests. Ss also completed a vocabulary test drawn from the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test (PPVT). Subsequently, each S's mother was asked various questions about probable response, both for her own child and for children in general. Results reveal that mothers were more accurate in predicting their child's success or failure on the IQ items than on the Piaget items. In both conditions, overestimations of ability were more common than underestimations. Estimates of age of mastery also showed overestimation, in some cases by several years. Data collected from 12 fathers indicate that fathers' patterns of response were similar to those of their wives. The correlations between accurate predictions by the mother and correct answers by the child were .85 in the Piaget condition and .49 in the IQ condition. Findings are compatible with the match hypothesis, which posits that the mother's knowledge of her child enables her to create an optimally challenging environment. (11 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sibling status effects: Adult expectations.

Investigated expectations or beliefs held by 278 adults (average age 25.3 yrs) about a child based on his or her sibling status alone. Ss were asked to describe what they would expect a child without brothers or sisters, a child who was the oldest in his or her family, and a child who was the youngest in his or her family to be like. Ss seemed to have higher expectations for and give more positive ratings to oldest children than to only or youngest children. The ordinal position and parental status of the S also had an effect on the ratings given. Ss who were youngest children and Ss who were only children tended to show some bias toward their own sibling group; Ss who were oldest children actually gave their own sibling status lower group ratings than did other Ss. Ss with children tended to give higher ratings to all 3 sibling groups than did Ss without children. Results are discussed in terms of how these expectations may develop and their effects on the child's development. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nonverbal communication of affect in interracial dyads.

Two experiments investigated the relationship between nonverbal behavior and the racial composition of a teacher–student dyad. The Multifactor Racial Attitude Inventory was used to measure prejudice. In Exp I, 36 high- and low-prejudiced White female undergraduates, acting as teachers, were led to praise successful White and Black students (confederates). Analysis of samples of nonverbal behavior showed that high-prejudiced teachers nonverbally discriminated between White and Black students (favoring Whites) significantly more than low-prejudiced teachers. In Exp II, 40 White and Black teachers (female undergraduates) taught successful White and Black students (confederates). Results show that both Whites and Blacks behaved nonverbally more positively to a student of their own race than to a student of the other race, although only same-race judges (12 White female undergraduates) could distinguish the differences in affect displayed by the Ss. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluative race–class stereotypes by race and perceived class of subjects.

80 Black and 74 White college students assigned traits, from a list of 80, to the Black lower class, Black middle class, White lower class, and White middle class. Each S rated the 5 or fewer traits that he or she had chosen as being most typical of the respective race–class groups from –5 (unfavorable) to +5 (favorable) for the given groups. Ss also assigned themselves to 1 of 4 classes: lower class, working class, middle class, or upper class. On the basis of these judgments, the Ss within each racial group were classified as perceiving themselves to be above or below the median of their own race's distribution. White Ss assigned more favorable characteristics to the middle than to the lower class and did not rate Blacks lower than Whites. Black Ss made a similar, but smaller, social class distinction and, in addition, generally perceived Blacks more favorably than Whites. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Who has the final word? Sex, race, and dominance behavior.

Investigated the effects of sex and race on dominance behavior as a function of a challenger's sex and race. Dominance was defined as the number of verbal challenges against an S's picture choice that an S withstood. Each of 128 undergraduate Ss and a confederate recorded individual preferences and joint decisions for the more attractive picture of 20 pairs of pictures. The number of challenges an S sustained each time a disagreement occurred regarding the more attractive picture of a pair was recorded. Results support the theory of status characteristics when Ss participated with White confederates: Black females were more dominant than White females and Black males, and White males were more dominant than Black males. With a Black confederate, however, Black males became significantly more dominant, whereas the behavior of the other 3 groups did not change. All Ss withstood significantly fewer challenges from females than from males. Results suggest that the characteristics of group members as well as the characteristics of a single person must be examined to obtain an accurate picture of mixed-sex or biracial interactions. (25 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of labeling as educable mentally retarded on teachers' expectancies for change in a student's performance.

Studied the effects of alleged bias on teachers' perceptions of a child labeled mentally retarded (EMR). An equal number of 40 regular class elementary and 40 EMR teachers from a large urban inner city school district were randomly assigned to groups of 20 viewing a videotape in which a Black child was said to be either in a 6th-grade or an EMR classroom. At 4 intervals, Ss predicted the future achievement level of the child on concept formation tasks, shown in the tape to be administered by a teacher. Results of a repeated measures analysis of variance indicated that the EMR label did not elicit lower mean expectancy scores than the regular class label, while the trend of increasing expectancies over trials suggests that a teacher's personal evaluation of a student's performance may contribute more than an educational-diagnostic label such as EMR to the behavioral expression of expectancies. There was no difference between EMR and regular class teachers nor interaction of trials with label or teacher group. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Locus of control, sex role orientation, and self-concept in Black and White third- and sixth-grade male and female leaders in a rural community.

Examined locus of control among 43 Black boys, 36 White boys, 35 Black girls, and 47 White girls from the 3rd and 6th grades. Ss had been selected as class leaders by their peers. Ss completed the Piers-Harris Children's Self-Concept Scale, the Who Should Test, and the Intellectual Achievement Responsibility Questionnaire. White female leaders were more internally controlled than were Black leaders and attributed good outcomes to personal attributes more often than did Black leaders. White female leaders were also more willing to accept responsibility for bad outcomes than were Black female leaders. Self-concept data and sex-role orientation data were not helpful in interpreting the findings but did serve to suggest several avenues for future research in the area of locus of control. Results do not support the findings of other researchers who found that girls attributed their success to luck or to luck and effort while boys attributed their success to effort. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children's physical attractiveness and sex as determinants of adult punitiveness.

Investigated a child's physical attractiveness and sex as potential elicitors of differential adult punitiveness. Ss in Exps I and II were 52 white females and 44 white males, respectively. Ss in both groups viewed a videotaped interaction between the E and a child who was made to appear either physically attractive or unattractive. Subsequently, Ss monitored what was presumably the child's performance on a picture-matching task and administered penalties to the child for incorrect responses. The specific penalty involved taking 1-5 pennies away from the child for each error. Results show that women behaved more leniently towards an attractive boy than towards either an attractive girl or an unattractive boy; these results were interpreted in the context of a cross-sex leniency effect mediated by a child's physical attractiveness. Men were not influenced in administering penalties by either a child's attractiveness or sex. It is suggested that the data reflect differences in men's and women's orientations toward children's task behavior. (23 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Detection of deception from clients' eye contact patterns.

Eye contact patterns during deception were investigated in a counseling setting with 12 Black and 16 White female college students. Half of the Ss were instructed to deceive the counselor by giving false answers to questions. These Ss looked at the counselor longer than others who had been instructed to tell the truth. Both Black and White deceivers followed this pattern. It is concluded that contrary to the popular opinion, deceivers maintain higher levels of eye contact than truth tellers. (16 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Associations of blood pressure with self-report measures of anger and hostility among Black and White men and women.

135 Black and White male and female normotensives and unmedicated mild to moderate hypertensives (aged 25–44 yrs) completed 4 reliable self-report scales. Ss also took part in 3 laboratory tasks that elicited cardiovascular reactivity. Ambulatory blood pressure (BP) readings at home and at work were also obtained from most Ss. Black and White Ss differed in their self-reports of anger/hostility and in their cardiovascular reactivity to behavioral tasks. In contrast, the relationships between self-reports of anger/hostility and cardiovascular activity at rest, during laboratory tasks, and at work varied as a function of race–sex combinations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Preschoolers' knowledge about attention.

Examined whether 48 3- and 4-yr-olds would understand attention and distraction and whether attention would be affected by a child's interest in the task and the situation's noise level. Miniature toy people, household objects, and rooms depicted 2 episodes about a child in a learning situation. Over several trials, the situations varied in the interest level of the child and/or the surrounding noise level. On some trials, Ss were asked to choose which objects (noisy or quiet) should be removed to increase attention. On other trials, Ss chose which of 2 arrays was more conducive to attending. Most Ss understood that noise and lack of interest hinder attention; they considered interest more important than noise. (8 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sex and race effects in the conformity behavior of upper-elementary school-aged children.

Reports 2 experiments with a total of 368 Black and White lower- and middle-class 9-12 yr olds in which a novel technique was used to study sex and race effects on children's conformity behavior. Neither the White, lower-class Ss nor the White, middle-class Ss showed any consistent tendency to conform differentially to Black and White models. A tendency of Blacks in Exp I to conform more to White than to Black models constituted the only race effect of any consequence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Story recall in young Black and White children: Effects of racial group membership, race of experimenter, and dialect.

Tested the effects of racial group membership, race of E, and dialect on unstructured and probed recall. l6 Black and 16 White 4-6 mo old children were Ss. Subgroups of 4 Ss within each racial group were randomly assigned to the experimental conditions such that order of exposure to E (Black and White) and dialects Standard English vs Black English vernacular) were counterbalanced. Results show that Whites performed better than Blacks in Standard English, Blacks performed better than Whites in Black English vernacular, Blacks tested in Black English vernacular were equivalent to Whites tested in Standard English, and Whites performed better in Standard English than in Black English vernacular. When probed with questions, there was an overall increase in the proportion of correct information for both racial groups. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)