Culture and Race Awareness

What Are Infants Learning about Race? A Look at a Sample of Infants from Multiple Racial Groups (Njoroge, Benton, Lewis, and Njoroge N., 2009). Infant Mental Health Journal, Vol. 30(5), 549-567 (2009). Author’s credentials combined are from various universities and a hospital within the United States. The purpose of the research was to obtain more knowledge regarding the significance of culture and race on the social development of children. A historical theoretical framework of child development combined present studies to analyze how the conveyance of culture and race affect the emergent child. Phenotype toys were presented to infants and children to test their reactions during play. The dependent variable was the children’s receptivity. The independent variable was the cultural stimulus used to draw the responses of the children.

In the initial phase of the study, parents were asked to share their views about engaging children less than three years in conversations about race and ethnicity. Assignments were created that enabled the researchers to examine young children’s cognizance concerning “phenotypic differences in play” (p. 557).

A videotape method was used to explain the distinctions in children’s selection of identical race and dissimilar race materials. Observational method was used to analyze 19 infants and toddlers (ages 6 to 36 months) from different cultural and ethnic backgrounds, as they played with materials appropriate for phenotypic distinctions. “Design and methodology was adapted from the classic studies, including the Black and White doll studies used with African American children (Clark & Clark, 1947; Cross, 1991) as well as similar methods used by Katz and Kofkin” (1997). In the present ...

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...s at four sites and compared to past studies. Based on completed questionnaires, parent participation was 50% (p. 560).

The results illustrate a total of four children ages (6- 36 months) whose ethnic backgrounds were Caucasian (2) (male, female) Asian American (1) (female) Southeast Asian male (1) continually reached for a darker doll, expressing the results of Katz and Kofkin’s (1997) theory that babies and young children do possess a keenness for distinguishing outward appearances (p. 560).

In conclusion, the title and context of the article are clear, and appropriately match the hypothesis of the authors. There is consistency between the objective of the experiment and its relationship to science. This writer found some issues in the overall presentation of information, in that the text lacks smooth transition, and was difficult to read and follow.