The Relationship between Race and Perception of Racially Related Stimuli in Preschool Children

White and Negro preschool children first evaluated 40 assorted objects for their positive or negative affect quality by placing the objects before a painted smiling face or a painted frowning face. Although racial differences between groups were predicted, none was found. The children subsequently made guesses as to which of 2 boxes, a white one or a black one, contained the different objects. Both groups tended to guess that the negatively evaluated objects were located in the black box and the positively evaluated objects were located in the white box, but the effect was more evident for white children than for Negro children. The results were related to the introjection of racial stereotypes by children.