Cognitive Reflection and Family Socioeconomic Status Predict Children’s Explanations of Social Inequalities
Location
SU-103
Department
Psychology
Abstract
Research suggests children who prefer internal over external explanations of inequality (e.g., innate ability differences vs. structural racism/sexism) are more likely to develop social biases. Adults with greater cognitive reflection (i.e., analytic thinking) and socioeconomic status (SES) are sometimes less likely to engage in internal reasoning about social groups. We investigated whether cognitive reflection and SES similarly predict children’s explanations of inequality. Five to 12-year-old children (N = 142, data collection on-going) completed Rizzo et al.’s (2021) explanations for inequalities task for the domains of race and gender. In this task children chose between internal (“because of who they are on the inside”) and external (“because of things that happen in the world”) explanations of an inequality (e.g., a man with a nice car and a woman with a junky car). We also measured children’s cognitive reflection (CRT-D) and family SES (composite of parent education and # of household books). Adjusting for age, cognitive reflection was a positive predictor of external explanations of racial inequality, but not gender inequality. Family SES was a positive predictor of external explanations of gender inequality, but not racial inequality. These results highlight individual differences contributing to children’s explanations of inequality and may inform efforts to promote external explanations, potentially mitigating the development of social bias and the perpetuation of inequalities.
Faculty Sponsor
Andrew Young
Cognitive Reflection and Family Socioeconomic Status Predict Children’s Explanations of Social Inequalities
SU-103
Research suggests children who prefer internal over external explanations of inequality (e.g., innate ability differences vs. structural racism/sexism) are more likely to develop social biases. Adults with greater cognitive reflection (i.e., analytic thinking) and socioeconomic status (SES) are sometimes less likely to engage in internal reasoning about social groups. We investigated whether cognitive reflection and SES similarly predict children’s explanations of inequality. Five to 12-year-old children (N = 142, data collection on-going) completed Rizzo et al.’s (2021) explanations for inequalities task for the domains of race and gender. In this task children chose between internal (“because of who they are on the inside”) and external (“because of things that happen in the world”) explanations of an inequality (e.g., a man with a nice car and a woman with a junky car). We also measured children’s cognitive reflection (CRT-D) and family SES (composite of parent education and # of household books). Adjusting for age, cognitive reflection was a positive predictor of external explanations of racial inequality, but not gender inequality. Family SES was a positive predictor of external explanations of gender inequality, but not racial inequality. These results highlight individual differences contributing to children’s explanations of inequality and may inform efforts to promote external explanations, potentially mitigating the development of social bias and the perpetuation of inequalities.