Social Learning Under Conditions of Uncertainty From Own- and Other-race Informants

Children's predominant exposure to own-race adults during the first year leads to an increased ability to distinguish own-race compared to other-race faces (Kelly et al., 2007). Previous research has examined the perceptual effects of this asymmetrical face exposure in infancy (Quinn et al., 2002; Rennels & Davis, 2008; Sugden, Mohamed-Ali, & Moulson, 2014) and when children start to use group-level characteristics to guide social learning (Buttelmann et al., 2013). Little research in young children has investigated the cognitive and social consequences of this 'other-race effect'. Thirty-two White and Black 3-year-olds and their parents participated in one 20-minute session consisting of a "demonstration phase" and a "test phase". Results revealed that children did not prefer to learn from adults that were 100%, as compared to 55%, accurate. Children also did not prefer to learn from own-race, as compared to other-race, adults. Results, limitations, and future directions are discussed.