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Clark Doll Test: Black children are racist

Clark Doll Test: Black children are racist

March 28, 2024

The Clark Doll Test reveals the harmful effects of racial stereotypes and ethnic segregation in the United States.

The Clark Doll Test

The study teaches us the damage caused by segregation and structural racism in the self-perception of children from six to nine years of age.

Background of the study

The Clark Doll Test was performed by Dr. Kenneth Clark. The research sought to expose the stereotypes and self-perception of children linked to their ethnic origin. The conclusions of Clark's experience were used to confirm that racial segregation in schools could alter young people's thinking about African-Americans, causing them to internalize certain stereotypes that would give rise to xenophobic beliefs, both in young white people and, surprisingly, in young black people , causing that the latter also reproduced certain ideas against blacks.


The test is famous for its relevance and Social impact that it supposed, although it has been criticized that the test lacks experimental guarantees. Clark pointed out the contrasts between children attending schools in marginal neighborhoods in Washington (D.C.), and those of integrated schools in New York City.

Clark's test had a decisive influence on the Brown case against the North American Board of Education in 1954. The investigation served to persuade the US Supreme Court that "separate but equal" schools for blacks and whites had inequitable foundations , and therefore were contrary to the law, which defended the integration and equality of children in school.


Methodology

During the experiment, Clark showed African-American children six to nine years old two rag dolls, one of White skin (which corresponded to the image of a Caucasian person) and the other of black complexion (which corresponded to a black person.

The questions were presented in this order:

  • Point out the doll that you like or that you would like to play with.
  • Point out the doll that is "good".
  • Point out the doll that looks "bad".
  • Give me the doll that looks like a white girl.
  • Give me the doll that looks like a girl of color.
  • Give me the doll that looks like a black.
  • Give me the doll that looks like you.

Results

The experimenters revealed that black children chose to play more often with white dolls . When children were asked to draw a human figure with the same skin color, they usually chose a lighter shade of skin than their own. The children attributed more positive adjectives to the "white" color, such as pretty and good. Conversely, the "black" color was associated with the attributes of bad Y ugly .


The last question that the students asked was one of the most controversial. Until then, most black children had identified the black doll as "the bad one." Among the participants, 44% said that the white doll was the one that most resembled themselves.

The researchers interpreted the results as evidence that black children internalized at a young age certain prejudices and racist stereotypes, caused by the discrimination and stigmatization that racial segregation generates.

Criticism of research

The Clark Doll Test has been criticized for having transcended thanks to the mediatization of its influence in the case of the US Court, the study being pointed out as lacking prior theoretical depth and control of the variables.

Critics argue that the authors of the study (Clark and his wife) they committed certain biases of partiality when dealing with a marriage of African-American ethnic origin , may have distorted the results to victimize people of color.


Doll test - The effects of racism on children (ENG) (March 2024).


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