Does accent trump skin color in guiding children's social preferences? Evidence from Brazil's natural lab

Emma Cohen; Edwin J.C. van Leeuwen; Andrezza Barbosa; Daniel B.M. Haun

doi:10.1016/j.cogdev.2021.101111

Does accent trump skin color in guiding children's social preferences? Evidence from Brazil's natural lab

Emma Cohen^*, Edwin J.C. van Leeuwen, Andrezza Barbosa, Daniel B.M. Haun

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

Previous research has shown significant effects of race and accent on children's developing social preferences. Accounts of the primacy of accent biases in the evolution and ontogeny of discriminant cooperation have been proposed, but lack systematic cross-cultural investigation. We report three controlled studies conducted with 5−10 year old children across four towns in the Brazilian Amazon, selected for their variation in racial and accent homogeneity/heterogeneity. Study 1 investigated participants’ (N = 289) decisions about friendship and sharing across color-contrasted pairs of target individuals: Black-White, Black-Pardo (Brown), Pardo-White. Study 2 (N = 283) investigated effects of both color and accent (Local vs Non-Local) on friendship and sharing decisions. Overall, there was a significant bias toward the lighter colored individual. A significant preference for local accent mitigates but does not override the color bias, except in the site characterized by both racial and accent heterogeneity. Results also vary by participant age and color. Study 3 (N = 235) reports results of an accent discrimination task that shows an overall increase in accuracy with age. The research suggests that cooperative preferences based on accent and race develop differently in response to locally relevant parameters of racial and linguistic variation.

Original language	English
Article number	101111
Pages (from-to)	1-24
Journal	Cognitive Development
Volume	60
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cogdev.2021.101111
Publication status	Published - Oct 2021
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank all participating schools across our sites for assistance with data collection. For contributions to preparation of materials and for field assistance, we thank Glaciele Ferreira de Abreu, Antonio Aroca, Darlice Ribeiro da Costa, Juliane Dauksch, Jan Keil, Sandy Kennert, Vanise Muribeca, Sylvio Tüpke and Luisa Soares. E.C., E.J.C.v.L., A.B., and D.B.M.H. were supported by the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science . E.J.C.v.L. was furthermore supported in part by the ERC (grant agreement no. 609819 , project SOMICS) and the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) .

Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 Elsevier Inc.

Funding

We thank all participating schools across our sites for assistance with data collection. For contributions to preparation of materials and for field assistance, we thank Glaciele Ferreira de Abreu, Antonio Aroca, Darlice Ribeiro da Costa, Juliane Dauksch, Jan Keil, Sandy Kennert, Vanise Muribeca, Sylvio Tüpke and Luisa Soares. E.C., E.J.C.v.L., A.B., and D.B.M.H. were supported by the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science . E.J.C.v.L. was furthermore supported in part by the ERC (grant agreement no. 609819 , project SOMICS) and the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) .

Keywords

Accent
Brazil
Cross-cultural
Race
Social behavior

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10.1016/j.cogdev.2021.101111

Cite this

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title = "Does accent trump skin color in guiding children's social preferences? Evidence from Brazil's natural lab",

abstract = "Previous research has shown significant effects of race and accent on children's developing social preferences. Accounts of the primacy of accent biases in the evolution and ontogeny of discriminant cooperation have been proposed, but lack systematic cross-cultural investigation. We report three controlled studies conducted with 5−10 year old children across four towns in the Brazilian Amazon, selected for their variation in racial and accent homogeneity/heterogeneity. Study 1 investigated participants{\textquoteright} (N = 289) decisions about friendship and sharing across color-contrasted pairs of target individuals: Black-White, Black-Pardo (Brown), Pardo-White. Study 2 (N = 283) investigated effects of both color and accent (Local vs Non-Local) on friendship and sharing decisions. Overall, there was a significant bias toward the lighter colored individual. A significant preference for local accent mitigates but does not override the color bias, except in the site characterized by both racial and accent heterogeneity. Results also vary by participant age and color. Study 3 (N = 235) reports results of an accent discrimination task that shows an overall increase in accuracy with age. The research suggests that cooperative preferences based on accent and race develop differently in response to locally relevant parameters of racial and linguistic variation.",

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author = "Emma Cohen and {van Leeuwen}, {Edwin J.C.} and Andrezza Barbosa and Haun, {Daniel B.M.}",

note = "Funding Information: We thank all participating schools across our sites for assistance with data collection. For contributions to preparation of materials and for field assistance, we thank Glaciele Ferreira de Abreu, Antonio Aroca, Darlice Ribeiro da Costa, Juliane Dauksch, Jan Keil, Sandy Kennert, Vanise Muribeca, Sylvio T{\"u}pke and Luisa Soares. E.C., E.J.C.v.L., A.B., and D.B.M.H. were supported by the Max Planck Society for the Advancement of Science . E.J.C.v.L. was furthermore supported in part by the ERC (grant agreement no. 609819 , project SOMICS) and the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) . Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2021 Elsevier Inc.",

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Does accent trump skin color in guiding children's social preferences? Evidence from Brazil's natural lab

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

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