Abstract

Previous research has consistently shown a preference for the racial in-group among very young White children. The goal of the present study (N = 72, age from 36 to 60 months) was to investigate the generality of these attitudes. To this end, we assessed the attitudes toward both Black and Asian children and results supported the idea of early general individual differences in the tendency to devalue different racial out-groups. In addition, we tested the hypothesis derived from Aboud's work (2003) that personal contact with members of the out-group can modulate the relationship between in-group preference and out-group evaluation. Results showed that attitudes toward the in-group largely predicted attitudes toward the less familiar racial out-group, but it was less predictive when children had personal experiences with the out-group.