Abstract
Biasness is the extent to which individual indulges in the stereotypical behavior based on the differences that account for various ethnic differences, cultural differences and gender differences. Children in this instance are also found to be indulging in the biasness regardless of their personal adherence and their act of biasness is found to be driven by their surroundings. The act of biasness in children is found to be driven by their familial responses in which the parents, guardians and elders of the children ascend their biased behavior in children as part of their early upbringing and thus, children develop the similar biased behavior in the society towards the people who are different in any particular aspect. Moreover, the act of biasness is also found to be driven by the social norms in which children adopt their sense of biasness from their observations and learning. In the current study, the extent of children’s biasness with respect to gender differences is examined on account of familial responses and social norms. The children were examined in the control environment where they were asked questions about the biased situation that accounts for gender differences and afterwards, they were provided with the interactive activity of storytelling which indicating the change and manipulation in biasness on the basis of social norms. The results of the study indicated the children’s adherence to biasness by familial responses at an initial level; however, the children’s level of biasness was shifted towards the social norm. Therefore, the results of the study indicated that biasness in children is driven by familial responses and social norms and the adherence to the social norms increases which restrains the familial responses and develops the biasness as an adapted phenomena by the children on the basis of their judgment.
Introduction
The individual is adhered to the state of biasness when one is encountered with the prejudice that accounts for social, racial, physical or cognitive differences. The biasness is found to be similar among the individuals irrespective of their age and hence, accounts for children as well. The children often face the issues related to the peer rejection which is found to be the antecedent of biasness and is considered to be questionable for the healthy growth and development of children. The occurrence of biasness leads towards the grounds of depression and anxiety and effects the well-being of the individual. The prevalence of biasness in the society causes the low self-esteem among the individuals and makes them less compliance with the norms and social life of their environment (Smith & Silva, 2011).
Background
The biasness among individuals has been remained in the society since the beginning of mankind where individuals are characterized on the basis of their ethnic and cultural differences which eventually creates the social boundary in the society and prevents biased individuals to indulge completely in society and carry out their aspects of life in an adequate manner (Smith & Silva, 2011). It has been inferred by the prior studies that due to the prevalence of personal difference and biasness, individuals tend to encounter with several psychological disorders and anxieties which makes them refrain from develop positive acquaintances in the society and eventually imposes negative effects on their well-being (Newheiser et al., 2014). Biasness refers to the social differences that one holds towards another member of society and on the basis of these differences, the individual is excluded from the social groups. It has been incorporated that biasness does not take place in isolation and hence, it is supported by the group of individuals who share the same differentiated thoughts about individuals (Derman-Sparks & Ramsey, 2011).
Problem Statement
The societies where individuals tend to enlighten the differences among each other based on their judgments about one’s racial differences. In this instance, the African Americans have been found to be treated differently from their peers and the difference is strictly found to be based on their skin-color differences. Moreover, children also find these differences disturbing while they encounter it which may eventually deprive them from healthy cognitive and social development. The antecedents of biases also ascend from familial concepts due to which children indulge in such differences and cause the issue of biasness among their peers. It has been inferred by the prior students that the societies where children are less biased then children in such societies develop intriguing and outstanding cognitive and social capabilities which eventually leads them towards the higher rate of achievement and accomplishments. There exists observable rate of Caucasian employment at top management with respect to black people and thus such traits maybe the result of racial biasness (Derman-Sparks & Ramsey, 2011).
Children possess the remarkable cognitive development process which makes them learn and adapt in accordance to their environment and the rate of learning and adaption is found to be extremely high in children in early ages. Therefore, the learning stimuli of such children finds their parents, guardians and elder siblings to indulge in racial differences then they adapt the same perspective of biasness from them and engage in racial biasness within a period of time (Smith & Silva, 2011). The act of biasness among children also prevails due to the differences between social statuses and in this instance; experts argue that such differences result in the biasness and prevalence of low self-esteem among the children. In the similar manner, children with high social-status are profound with the favoritism among their peer which eventually develops the biasness at a social level. Therefore, the current study is aimed to address the biasness that prevails among children on account of their inherited social and cultural values due to which they indulge in characterizing their peers on account of such differences and hence, the norm of social differences takes place among the children (Newheiser et al., 2014).
Literature Review
This chapter consists of review of prior researches conducted with respect to the different types and extents of biasness among children that is imposed by society, family and social norms. The prior researches have made an attempt to enlighten the prospects of the current study in order to view it in a broad perspective.
According to Barcellos et al. (2012), the biasness that takes places on account of gender differences is found to be prominent in some societies, in which boys are preferred over girls and are socially subject to being superiors and center of attention. In this way, girls often lack educational opportunities and in some cases, lack affection from their families. The similar phenomenon is found to be repeated by the children when they encounter with their schooling and mirror the same notions that they have learned from their families. The children in such societies tend to adapt these characteristics and implicate it in their real life and thus, the girls in such societies face problematic situations and biasness in every aspect of their life; even in early schooling such girls are found to have lower level of self-esteem and future projections. This kind of biasness if found to be common in many under developing countries.
Killen et al. (2001) conducted a study to examine the decisions made by children on account of the prevalence of biasness in the society and the extent to which their decisions are driven by racial biasness. The study was objectified to examine the decision of the children which encompasses the decision of indulging in biasness to the extent which causes them to accept or neglect an individual from their social group on account of different stereotypes. In this study the sample of 72 children were examined who were aged between 46 to 61 months; in which they were interviewed about specific stereotypical situations. The children’s judgment with respect to biasness was examined with the games in which they were asked if girls can play with trucks and if boys are as good as playing with dolls as compared to girls. The results of the study were observed using the Likert scale and were measured using ANOVA statistics, and the results of the study indicated that 60 percent students agreed that boys will be good with playing with trucks and girls are good at playing with dolls. The students further justified their answers by means of specific social conventions which were followed by the facts that both the genders are bound to social conventions. However, it was also implicated by the results that children agree that boys and girls are free to play either with trucks or boys in accordance to their own preferences. Therefore, the study encompassed the behavioral aspect in which children linked the stereotypical activities to their perceptions based on social norms
Therefore, the current study is aimed to examine the extent to which children face gender related biasness on account of their familial responses and consider them as social norm. the familial responses and social norms are considered as the factors that drive the biasness among children and manipulates their judgment.
Research Objectives
The discussed aim of the study incorporates the following objectives:
Research Questions
The discussed objectives of the study incorporate the following questions:
Is gender related biasness in children is related to familial responses?
Is gender related biasness in children is related to social norms?
Hypotheses
The discussed research questions of the study formulate the following hypotheses:
There exists significant relationship etween gender related biasness in children and familial responses.
There exists significant relation between gender related biasness in children and social norms.
Methodology
Design
The research design of the current study comprises of the variables that are discussed below:
Dependent Variable
Biasness in Children: This variable will be examined on the extent to which children impose the biased behavior towards the given stimuli.
Independent Variables
Familial Responses: This variable will examine the extent to which children’s biasness is driven by the familial responses of children. This variable will also have two levels in which the high and low responses is being measured.
Social Norms:
This variable will examine the extent to which children’s biasness is driven by the social norms prevailing around children. This variable will also have two levels in which high and low is being measured.
Participants
The participants in this study comprise of 100 children, aged between 4 to 9 years. The gender ratio will be kept equal and the children will be selected randomly regardless of their ethnic differences.
Procedure
The children will be asked a series of questions based of off of as 5 point likert scale. Each child will be asked ten questions on the questionnaire that will be measuring to see if they favor
Factorial Design
The proposed factorial design of the current study is illustrated below. The factorial design will be discussed further on account of its results.
Expected Raw Data Tables
The following data and tables will be expected to be produced and used in this research
Material
The procedure requires the following material / support:
Pre and post questionnaires will be required to observe the responses of individual child.
SPSS will be required to analyze the statistical data.
Results
Proposed Analyses for Results
Upon obtaining the raw data from the interview, they will be analyzed for reliability and for correlation. The SPSS software will be used in part of the study.
Reliability Statistics
The reliability of the data will be measured using the Cronbach Alpha, which will determine the extent to which the observed data is reliable to address the proposed hypotheses. The value of Cronbach Alpha greater than 0.6 will be accepted on account of Sekaran (2006); who incorporates that data with the 0.6 reliability is consistent and reliable enough to account for the proposed instrument.
Pearson – Correlation
The hypotheses of the current study that accounts for the significant relationship between the variables will be examined by using the Pearson – Correlation technique. In this way, the extent to which variables are related will be determined. This technique will represent the R value which will depict the strong relation between variables with the value ranging from ± 0.80 to ± 1.00, the value ranging from ± 0.60 to ± 0.79 will depict the moderate relation between the variables, ± 0.20 to 0.59 will depict the weak relation between the variables whereas ± 0.01 to 0.19 will depict the negligible relation between the variables. Furthermore, Pearson – Correlation also contains its null hypothesis which states that there is no significant relation between the variables; P-value in this instance indicates the rejection of this null hypothesis when its value falls below 0.01, making the relation significant to implicate the results of the study (Hair, 2011).
Expected Results
It is expected that there are a total of four histograms depicting the level of gender bias based from familial response and another four histograms depicting level of gender bias based on social response. These histograms are similar to the ones shown below.
Figure 1: Histogram showing the change in level of bias based on familial response before and after the story telling activity
Based from figure 1, it should be expected that the level of gender bias based on familial response must decrease after the story telling activity. This would imply the activity will decrease the gender bias related to familial response as the child moves from level 1 to level 2. It is also expected that the Pearson Correlation value will become more diminished after the story telling activity. The decreasing value of Pearson Correlation would mean that the effect of familial response would diminish as the children become older.
Figure 2: Histogram showing the change in level of bias based on social response before and after the story telling activity
Based from figure 2, it should be expected that the overall gender bias will decrease after the story telling activity. It would also be expected that the correlation value would increase from level 1 to level 2 or as the children become older, the social response becomes more apparent.
The expected results of the study with respect to biasness in children are illustrated below:
The results of the study will indicate that the Pearson Correlation value of 0.8152 which indicates the positive moderate relation between the familial response of children towards the biasness, and the relation is found to be decreased after the experiment by reducing the familial response to 0.5861 depicting the weak relation. On the contrary, the children’s biasness was moderately related in pre experiment behavior with the correlation value of 0.6214 and increased in post experiment with the total correlation value of 0.9540 depicting the strong positive relation. Moreover, the overall relation is found to be significant at the value of 0.00 indicating the acceptance of all the proposed hypotheses and depicting the relationship between the proposed variables.
Discussion
Interpretation of Results
The overall results of the study will indicate that that the gender related biasness in children is related to their familial responses in which the parents’ and family preference over gender is found to be ascendant in children. After the story telling experiment, the biasness in children for gender differences based on familial responses was found to be reduced to great extent which indicating the positive influence of the experiment. The results also indicated that the adherence of children’s biasness was low for the social norms which depicted that children possessed the stereotypical behavior but the extent was low with respect to the result of post—experiment. In this way, experimental procedure to drive the biasness via social norms was found and the proposed hypotheses will be accepted indicating that biasness among children was the result of familial response in the beginning and the biasness in children indicated the shift in its driving factor due to the experiment; which indicating that biasness is also the consequence of social norms and the stereotypical behavior can also be eradicated using the story telling by means of eradicating measures.
Threats to Validity
There can be a threat to the validity of the findings in this research. This threat is the unaccounted effect of other variables such variables include the mood of the children during the story telling activity. Note that the mood of a person usually affects his or her judgment, attitude, and behavior towards other people. There exists no other such threats that can question the validity of the results however, based on the familial norms and the independency of the children, the degree to which children indulge in biasness may fluctuate. However, any significant phenomenon that can invalidate the results or can alter the results is not predicted.
Alternative Results
There are other alternative results that can be arrived at in this research. Accordingly, the correlation between the level of gender bias and age could become reversed. This would implicate that the activity actually fortifies gender bias rather than diminish it. Another alternative result is in the decrease in social norms effect over familial response effects. This alternative results if the majority of the children have undergone certain behavioral changes as they age. Example of such behavioral change would include becoming more introvert as they grow up. When a person becomes more introvert it means that he or she tends to seclude him or herself apart from socializing; hence, decreasing the effects of social norms on his level of biases.
Conclusion
The children indulge in biasness regardless of their personal consciousness in which their judgment of biasness is driven by their elders or societal norms. The antecedent of biasness in children in found to be highly influenced by their elders’ perspectives incorporating the familial responses whereas, biasness is also driven by the social norms in which children learn the differentiated characteristics of gender differences and their profoundness for such activities on the basis of their observations and social learning. The current study has provided the evidence that the biasness in children in driven by familial responses as well as social norms however, the biasness in children can be manipulated by storytelling techniques and can cause shift in familial responses to social norms. The children, in this instance, are found to adapt their extent of biasness from their environment and can shift their adherence by means of the learning mechanism from their social norms. In this way, the biasness may prevail in their conscience for long term which may be driven by familial or social norms.
Future Direction
The current study has strived to find the relation between biasness in children on the basis of familial responses and social norms in the control environment of story-telling technique. However, the future direction of the study can incorporate the strata of children prevailing in different age groups in order to examine their adherence extent to biasness in the similar manner. Moreover, the current study can also use cultural and ethnic characteristics to identify if the pattern of biasness among children remains consistent. The biasness can also be found at different extent in families where mixed-ethnicity is found and thus, the extent of biasness in children can also fluctuate on account of familial responses.
References
Barcellos, S. H., Carvalho, L., & Lleras-Muney, A. (2012). Child Gender and Parental Investments in India: Are Boys and Girls Treated Differently? (No. w17781). National Bureau of Economic Research.
Derman-Sparks, L., & Ramsey, P. G. (2011). What if all the kids are white?: Anti-bias multicultural education with young children and families. Teachers College Press.
Hair, J. F. J., Wolfinbarger, M., Money, A. H., Samouel, P., & Page, M. J. (2011). Essentials of business research methods: ME Sharpe Inc.
Killen, M., Pisacane, K., Lee-Kim, J., & Ardila-Rey, A. (2001). Fairness or stereotypes? Young children's priorities when evaluating group exclusion and inclusion. Developmental Psychology, 37(5), 587.
Newheiser, A. K., Dunham, Y., Merrill, A., Hoosain, L., & Olson, K. R. (2014). Preference for high status predicts implicit outgroup bias among children from low-status groups. Developmental psychology, 50(4), 1081.
Sekaran, U. (2006). Research methods for business: A skill building approach. John Wiley & Sons.
Smith, T. B., & Silva, L. (2011). Ethnic identity and personal well-being of people of color: a meta-analysis. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 58(1), 42.
