London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Tuesday, Oct 07, 2025

0:00
0:00

Children more likely to see a White person as being “in charge” compared to a Black person

Social hierarchies exist across cultures and people use distinct cues such as prestige and wealth to determine where other people fit in society. However, information these cues is not always available and is inferred by other information such as the person’s race or gender. New research published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology found that children use race and posture cues to infer who is “in charge” between two adults. to fix this problem we need more leaders of color and less white man in charge (they should mind only their business and stop patronizing anybody that is different)
“Race is linked to social status in many societies because of historical and perpetuating inequalities,” explained study authors Noa Dukler and Zoe Liberman. “Despite this frequent association, research on how young children use race to infer social hierarchies remains limited. Here, across three studies, we investigated (a) whether children use race as a cue of social status and (b) how much weight they place on race as a status cue when an additional (and potentially conflicting) status cue is also available.”

Participation of all three studies took place at the Santa Barbara Zoo and MOXI, the Wolf Museum of Exploration + Innovation in Santa Barbara, California where participants were also recruited. The study procedure used 32 color photos of adults that were displayed in dominant postures (typically associated with high status) and submissive postures (associated with low status). Each of these postures also included an overt version and a subtle version for a total of 4 different postures. To assess the effects of race, the researchers used four Black models and four White models (two men and two women for each race) each of whom posed for all 4 postures.

Participants completed four trials in all three studies. Before beginning, participants were told they would see two people and their job was to identify which one of the two was “in charge.” Each trial would show the child two pictures and they would identify who was in charge and which one they liked by pointing.

These trials only varied by the pictures being used. For Study 1, which was primarily comparing race, researchers showed children one White model and one Black model both in a dominant posture. For Study 2, which was primarily interested in posture, researchers showed one dominant and one submissive picture of models of the same race. “In Study 3, we were interested in children’s responses when these two cues interacted, so each pair featured one White model and one Black model, with one of these models presented in a dominant posture and the other model presented in a submissive posture. Across all studies, each pair featured models of the same gender (two men and two women) and models displaying the same posture cue type (subtle or overt). The order of the trials was randomized for each participant.”

Study 1 included 195 participants from 3 to 11 years old. Results show that 57.31% of children chose the White model as being “in charge.” Follow-up analyses suggest this number is indeed above chance level suggesting children are more likely to see the White model as “in charge” compared to the Black model. When asked who they liked, children were also more likely to say that they liked the White model compared to the Black model. Follow-up analyses suggest this could be due to children showing a preference for whoever is “in charge.”

Study 2 included 222 participants of the same age range as Study 1. Results indicate that 69.14% of children indicated the person in the dominant posture to be “in charge.” Further analyses show that children were more likely to select the model in the dominant posture as “in charge” when the model was Black compared to White. In other words, children relied more on postural cues when determining who was “in charge” when comparing two Black models compared to two White models. In contrast to Study 1, results suggest that children liked the model they did not choose more than the model they did choose as “in charge.”

Study 3 included 229 participants of the same age range. The procedure was identical to the previous studies except that the pairs of photos contained both race and posture differences. Results show that children generally tended to choose the White model and the dominant posture as being “in charge.” This effect was more pronounced for the posture differences compared to the racial differences. In other words, the odds were stronger that children would to choose the dominant posture as being “in charge” over the submissive posture than the odds of choosing the White model as being “in charge” over the Black model.

Further analyses showed that children were much more likely to choose a dominant-posed Black model as “in charge” than a submissive-posed White model, which supports the notion that children attend more to posture than race when these cues are in conflict. Children mostly indicated they liked the White model more than the Black model. Preference did not differ between postures.

“Children may have relied more heavily on posture than on race when determining who is ‘in charge’ for several reasons. One possibility is that because physical dominance cues emerge quite early in development, whereas race-based status inferences may be rooted in societal constructs that are learned from one’s environment, children may give more weight to physical cues. Another possibility is that posture cues provide more direct information about the individual’s status, whereas race provides more indirect information about the group’s status.”

The study, “Children use race to infer who is in charge“, was published online April 23, 2022.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Three Scientists Awarded Nobel Prize in Medicine for Discovery of Immune Self-Tolerance Mechanism
OpenAI and AMD Forge Landmark AI-Chip Alliance with Equity Option
Munich Airport Reopens After Second Drone Shutdown
France Names New Government Amid Political Crisis
Trump Stands Firm in Shutdown Showdown and Declares War on Drug Cartels — Turning Crisis into Opportunity
Surge of U.S. Billionaires Transforms London’s Peninsula Apartments into Ultra-Luxury Stronghold
Pro Europe and Anti-War Babiš Poised to Return to Power After Czech Parliamentary Vote
Jeff Bezos Calls AI Surge a ‘Good’ Bubble, Urges Focus on Lasting Innovation
Japan’s Ruling Party Chooses Sanae Takaichi, Clearing Path to First Female Prime Minister
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Sentenced to Fifty Months in Prison Following Prostitution Conviction
Taylor Swift’s ‘Showgirl’ Launch Extends Billion-Dollar Empire
Trump Administration Launches “TrumpRx” Plan to Enable Direct Drug Sales at Deep Discounts
Trump Announces Intention to Impose 100 Percent Tariff on Foreign-Made Films
Altman Says GPT-5 Already Outpaces Him, Warns AI Could Automate 40% of Work
Singapore and Hong Kong Vie to Dominate Asia’s Rising Gold Trade
Trump Organization Teams with Saudi Developer on $1 Billion Trump Plaza in Jeddah
Manhattan Sees Surge in Office-to-Housing Conversions, Highest Since 2008
Switzerland and U.S. Issue Joint Assurance Against Currency Manipulation
Electronic Arts to Be Taken Private in Historic $55 Billion Buyout
Thomas Jacob Sanford Named as Suspect in Deadly Michigan Church Shooting and Arson
Russian Research Vessel 'Yantar' Tracked Mapping Europe’s Subsea Cables, Raising Security Alarms
New York Man Arrested After On-Air Confession to 2017 Parents’ Murders
U.S. Defense Chief Orders Sudden Summit of Hundreds of Generals and Admirals
Global Cruise Industry Posts Dramatic Comeback with 34.6 Million Passengers in 2024
Trump Claims FBI Planted 274 Agents at Capitol Riot, Citing Unverified Reports
India: Internet Suspended in Bareilly Amid Communal Clashes Between Muslims and Hindus
Supreme Court Extends Freeze on Nearly $5 Billion in U.S. Foreign Aid at Trump’s Request
Archaeologists Recover Statues and Temples from 2,000-Year-Old Sunken City off Alexandria
China Deploys 2,000 Workers to Spain to Build Major EV Battery Factory, Raising European Dependence
Speed Takes Over: How Drive-Through Coffee Chains Are Rewriting U.S. Coffee Culture
U.S. Demands Brussels Scrutinize Digital Rules to Prevent Bias Against American Tech
Ringo Starr Champions Enduring Beatles Legacy While Debuting Las Vegas Art Show
Private Equity’s Fundraising Surge Triggers Concern of European Market Shake-Out
Colombian President Petro Vows to Mobilize Volunteers for Gaza and Joins List of Fighters
FBI Removes Agents Who Kneeled at 2020 Protest, Citing Breach of Professional Conduct
Trump Alleges ‘Triple Sabotage’ at United Nations After Escalator and Teleprompter Failures
Shock in France: 5 Years in Prison for Former President Nicolas Sarkozy
Tokyo’s Jimbōchō Named World’s Coolest Neighbourhood for 2025
European Officials Fear Trump May Shift Blame for Ukraine War onto EU
BNP Paribas Abandons Ban on 'Controversial Weapons' Financing Amid Europe’s Defence Push
Typhoon Ragasa Leaves Trail of Destruction Across East Asia Before Making Landfall in China
The Personality Rights Challenge in India’s AI Era
Big Banks Rebuild in Hong Kong as Deal Volume Surges
Italy Considers Freezing Retirement Age at 67 to Avert Scheduled Hike
Italian City to Impose Tax on Visiting Dogs Starting in 2026
Arnault Denounces Proposed Wealth Tax as Threat to French Economy
Study Finds No Safe Level of Alcohol for Dementia Risk
Denmark Investigates Drone Incursion, Does Not Rule Out Russian Involvement
Lilly CEO Warns UK Is ‘Worst Country in Europe’ for Drug Prices, Pulls Back Investment
Nigel Farage Emerges as Central Force in British Politics with Reform UK Surge
×