Wed, 19 Jul 2006

Children's ideas about fairness may depend on race

Now here's a dangerous 'Study in Stupidity', because it deals with a real hot button issue, and it's so easy to misinterpret the results. In fact, the researchers went so far as to define a new problem - "modern racism", as opposed, I suppose, to "traditional racism". What the Hel does that mean?

Note carefully the way the study was constructed, and what parameters were left out (gender is the most notable one). Check the "four different principles of justice": age entitlement, equality, equity and benevolence.

Now ask yourself how you can possibly expect a second grader to tell the difference between equality and equity. I'm not sure I could tell you the difference myself. And does "age entitlement" mean that the eldest should get more, or the youngest? I know my kids seemed to favor the latter, but I suspect the researchers made a typical adult assumption that reversed that parameter.

It might be interesting to see a study tracing the patterns of self identity from an early age: but this one ain't it! And it would be incredibly difficult to design such a study to return accurate results - I get the distinct feeling that this one returned exactly what the researchers were expecting... a result that demands more money for more research.

Researchers from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania found that racial discrimination can appear in a new form labeled, "modern racism," which is exerted in a subtle manner present in today's youth. A hypothetical scenario was devised allowing second and fourth graders to determine the outcome that is most fair between three characters with the major variant being racial differences. The results imply the necessity of early intervention in order to discourage modern racism.

(link) [EurekAlert!]

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