Thursday, September 17, 2009

Seniors- nature vs. nurture


See Baby Discriminate
By Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman

Your class assignment today is to read the Newsweek article, See Baby Discriminate. Only read the first 3 1/2 pages. (Stop after this sentence- 'It's possible that by third grade, when parents usually recognize it's safe to start talking a little about race, the developmental window has already been closed.')

This article fits into the nature/nurture debate of chapter 3. After reading the article, answer the following questions...(Directions on how to respond are below the questions)

Value: 10 points total

1. Identify Birgitte Vittrup's 3 methods to test the multicultural home environments of the families in the study. What were the results?

2. What do child development researchers say about 'in-group preferences?'

3. What is Rebecca Bigler's recommended age for talking to children about race?

4. Answer this question from the article... "We all want out children to be unintimidated by differences and have the social skills necessary for a diverse world. The questions is, do we make it worse, or do we make it better, by calling attention to race?"

5. How does this article fit into the nurture side of the debate from chapter 3? In general, do you agree or disagree with the content? Explain.


To respond...

1. Click on the comments link at the bottom of the page.

2. Type your answers into the box provided. Be sure to number your answers. (You might want to open a 2nd window in your browser so you can see both the article and your answers)

3. Click the name/url option. Where it says name type your first name and last initial.

4. Click publish. Your response should automatically appear on the site.

69 comments:

Dani Jacoby said...

1. Birgitte Vittrup's 3 methods to test the multicultural home environments of the families in the study were sending a third of the family home with multicultural themed videos for a week, a third with the videos and discussion topics, and a third with just the discussion topics. A lot of the families didn't even ask the discussion questions even though they were supposed to because they didn't know what to say, but those that did had improved their childrens' racial attitudes in a single week.

2. Children don't segregate in their behavior. They are developmentally prone to in-group favoritism. Children naturally try to categorize everything, and the attribute they rely on is that which is the most clearly visible.

3. Rebecca recommended to talk to children about race as early as 3 years of age. First graders can also be influenced, but once children reach third grade, the developmental window has closed.

4. If presented the right way, talking about race at a young age can be extremely beneficial to the child. If not talked about the children won't know what to expect of themselves or their parents. Most parents are scared to mention race because they feel that bringing it up calls attention to the differences, but they should be brave because studies show that it is extremely beneficial.

5. This article fits into the nurture side of the debate because it shows that with certain conversations and discussions children learn that race shouldn't be an issue when making friends, etc. Without talking to their parents they don't know if their parents are racist or if they should be racist. I agree with the content because I believe that it's important to talk to your kids. If you don't tell them what's going on and how to act they form their own ideas just like the blue and red t-shirt scenario.

Rachel C said...

1. Vittrup sent one third of the families that were in the experiment home with a set of children's videos that dealt with racial/multicultural topics. He sent another third of the group home with the same videos, but also a set of questions and topics the parents were supposed to ask their children and talk to their children about that involved racial issues. The last third, he sent home with simply the questions and topics that they were to discuss with their children. Surprisingly, five members of the third group dropped out claiming they did not want to point out skin color. The results were odd, none of the groups budged very much from the racial views that they first exhibited; Vittrup found, in the diaries that the parents kept, that the parents were not being as thorough as he would have liked with their discussions with their children.

2.Child development researchers say that most children have in group preference tendencies. This means that they are more likely to associate themselves with/ identify themselves with children that look like them and are familiar to them. For example, most white children will prefer to be around white children since that is what they are used to. They will say white children are smarter, faster, stronger, etc. because they too are white.

3.Bigler states that we should start talking to children about racism as early as the age of 3.

4.Because of the information shown in this article, I think it is very important to talk to your children about race. If you start talking at an earlier age, it will make children more prone to being comfortable around children they are no used to. The children then will not display in group favoritism and may put children into categories, but not racial categories because they will understand more about it. If the children know their parents are okay with children of another race, then chances are the children will be comfortable with them as well --we do model after our parents.

5. This article fits in with the nurture side of the content because it is basically arguing that if parents want children to be comfortable with race, they have to talk about it and give them access to a multicultural lifestyle and multicultural discussions at a young age. We are not genetically programmed as children to understand the idea of racism, we learn that from our parents. I agree with this article, I think that we have moved on since the civil rights movement and I think parents should be comfortable and willing to talk to their children and to help them understand about racial issues. It will give children a better grip on the world around them and lessen/take away the likelihood that they grow up to be discriminatory or racist. This article clearly shows that without the discussions that they are vouching for, the children won't understand and will categorize in ways that show that they can see the difference of races in the world.

Tom V. said...

1. Her first step was to give the children a Racial Attitude measure where she asked them a few questions about race.
Then she sent another third home with multicultural videos to watch like Sesame Street. A second group got the videos and a talk with the parents about race and how not to discriminate. The last group was given no videos but just to be talked to by their parents.
After this Vittrup found that the last group of people were backing out saying they didn't want to talk about skin color to their children. She also found most kids answer white people were good and only a few were bad while they answered that some to most black people were bad.

2. She say that kids are developmentally prone to in-group favoritism; they're going to form these preferences on their own. Children naturally try to categorize everything, and the attribute they rely on is that which is the most clearly visible.

3. She says at about the age of three parents should start talking to their children about race.

4. I believe that kids at a young age will see the color difference but maybe not understand why. Therefore, if parents explain to them that they are the same and color has nothing to do with anything, maybe the kids will be more understanding and less prone to discrimination on any culture.

5. This article fits into the nurture side of chapter 3 because the study is trying to show if talking to your kids about race has an effect on them. The study showed it did. That if parents talk to their children they are more likely to have a better racial position in life. The kids who were not talked to pretty much stayed the same for the whole study not really knowing what to think or what to say. This study shows that if you shape a child a certain way they will adapt to it, learn it and live it.
I want to say that I do agree with this. I believe if kids are taught the right way the first time there wouldn't be any confusion. They would know discrimination isn't right. They would know not to judge by skin color. Telling them the right thing first is way better than them having to hear stuff from school or trying to figure things out on their own.

Laura M. said...

1. She gave the kids a survey about the attitudes and behavior between black and white people, told the parents to show interracial videos, and told the parents to talk to their kid about race. Most kids responded negatively towards blacks on the survey and some families didn't want to talk about race to their kid so they dropped out.

2. No matter how you separate kids, whether it's race or t-shirts, they will always think that their group is better than the other group, but not necessarily think that the other group is bad.

3. The recommended age is 3 years.

4. We should inform our children about race, but I think we make it worse. If we make it a big deal, the kids might have the opposite opinion to what their parents are teaching them. We should allow them to make their own friends, and if they want to stick within the confines of their own race, they can

5. This article fits to the nurture side of the argument in that Vittrop believes if we surround our children with interracial messages and that "everyone is equal," it will change the way kids see another race and may end racism. For the most part, I do agree with the content. I do believe that if we start teaching and surrounding our children with certain things at an early age, they will absorb it much better and therefore form their own attitudes toward whatever you teach them.

Mari P. said...

1. She sent a third of the group home with multicultural videos for a week. A second group of families received the videos and were told to use them to start a discussion about interracial friendship. They also received a checklist of topics to discuss that corresponded with the shows' themes. The last third were also given the checklist of topics, but no videos. They had to discuss racial equality on their own. None of the children had moved much at all in their racial attitudes. A few of the families had even dropped out because they felt uncomfortable talking about it, and were unsure of what to say.

2. Children very easily develop in-group preferences. They have respect for groups that are different, but believe they are superior to any other group. Children naturally catergorize everything, especially by what is visible.

3. Sometime before third grade because by then their developmental window is already closed.

4. I believe that we make it worse. We let children make up their own reasons for why people are different, and their reasons may not be positive or correct. They need to be told that everyone is equal, or they'll just believe whatever they want because of in-group preferences.

5. It shows that how your parents raise you and who you are around influence your thinking and beliefs. I do agree with this article, i don't think racism is inherited through genes. I think it comes from a lack of knowledge and understanding, so we come to our own conclusions. Children need to be educated about different races and informed about how we are all equal. This is a topic that shouldn't be avoided for discussion.

AmandaM said...

1. Her first step was to administer a Racial Attitude Measure to caucasian children between the ages of 5 and 7. She then gave a third of the families multicultural themed videos for the children to watch. The second third were also given the video, but the parents were also instructed to follow a checklist of interracial friendship topics to discuss with their children. The last third was given the checklist without the video. They were supposed to talk about the topics every night for five nights.
The results were somewhat shocking. The families in the last group started dropping out. They claimed that they didn't want to expose their children to the differences between races. Most children on the racial measure test answered that "almost none' of whites are mean, but "some" or "a lot" of blacks are. Also, when asked if their parents liked black people, 14% answered "no" and 38% answered "i don't know." Of the families that actually proceeded to discuss the topics with their children, those children dramatically improved their racial attitudes.

2. Children have a natural tendency to categorize everything, consequently they will use anything you give them to create divisions. Children favor in-group preferences with things that are most clearly visible.

3. She concluded that since children categorize by what is visible, they will prefer to be around people who look like them. She says that around the age of 3 children are already forming conclusions on people due to their race. It is important to talk to them about these issues to insure that, during this period of development, the children's attitudes are changed to be more accepting.

taylor t said...

1. She divided the group into 3 groups. The first group was sent home to watch muticulturally themed videos for a week. The results were that they didn't view race as an issue. The next group watched the videos as well and had the parents talk to them about race. The last group was given a checklist of topics to discuss with there children. The results were that 5 families in the last group quit the study because they did not want to talk to their kids about race. The results weren't the ones that they expected because they parents had barely even been talking about what was on the checklist.

2. They say that children seem to say that the group their in is better than the other group.

3. As early as 3 years old.

4. I think that calling attention race is a good thing. I believe that if children are never told about race, they'll still notice it on their own and stick to their own skin color because they won't know any better. Explaining that were all equal will encourage kids to associate with other races.

5. This article fits into the Nurture side of the argument because its testing to see if your parents talking to you about race will affect the way you think or feel about other races. It explains that you are not born with racial prejudice but rather you are taught it, and you start to think what others around you think unless you know better. I agree with this article because I believe that kids feelings about other racial groups are formed when they are younger based on what they learned from their parents, and people around them.

Nicole Bell said...

1. Birgitte Vittrup was the leader in a study of children ages 5 through 7. The goal of Vittrup's study was to find out if typical children's videos with multicultural storylines have any effect on their racial attitudes. Vittrup split about 100 families into three groups. The first group of families were sent home with multiculturally themed videos for a week, such as Sesame Street or Little Bill. The second group of families received these same videos, but were also encouraged to speak to their children about interracial friendship. They were given a checkpoint list of items to mention and talk about. The third group of families were given a list of topics to talk about to their children, but no videos. They had to discuss racial equality on their own. Five families dropped out, by the surprise of Vittrup, because they did not want to talk about racism with their children and they didn't know what to say. At first, the results showed that all three groups seemed not to have changed in their attitudes about racial equality. But Vittrup closely examined the parents' diaries and found that they had not talked about the given checkpoints. The only children who seemed to improve dramatically were the children of six families whose parents actually talked about racism. These children had a better racial attitude, so talking about it is key.

2. It is said in the article that it takes very little for children to develop in-group preferences. Children will use whatever you give them to form categories or divisions. Children are naturally prone to develop in-group preferences. When given a certain color shirt to wear, the children immediately said their group was better, smarter, and nicer. Children rely on what is most clearly visible to naturally categorize everything, and in this case it is skin color.

3. Bigler's recommended age for talking to children about race is age three. This is an age when a child's "window" is still open. This is the time when a child's attitude might be the most likely to change or conform to what they have heard from others. If race is talked about later than that, the developmental window might be already closed, and the child will not change their mind or attitude about what they have already learned.

Nick C. said...

1. Vittrup's three methods to test the multicultural home environments of the families in the study were to split the families into three groups. The first would get multiculturally themed videos for a week and told to share them with their children. The second group was given the videos and were told to use them as starting points for discussion on interracial friendships. The third group was not given the videos, but were told to have conversations with their children about interracial friendships. Some parents in the last group dropped out because they refused to have conversations about race with their young children. Many of the other parents with the check list of topics also never discussed race with their children. When the children went back to retest, the three groups of children were statistically the same. Only six of the parents who were told to discuss the topics with their children actually did, and their children dramatically improved their racial attitudes in a single week.

2. Child development researchers say that it takes remarkably little for children to develop in-group preferences, and often they mimic their parent's behavior.

annie r said...

1. Birgitte's three methods was to send home the first group with just videos, the second group was sent home with the videos and a checklist, and the third group was sent home with just the checklist. The results were that the test failed. This was because only 6 families talked about race to their children. The 6 families showed great improvement though.
2. They were segregated by the color of their shirts. The children didnt put the other color down just thought they were better.
3. By the age of three.
4. I think we make it better by talking about race. If you dont talk about it children may end up in situations where they say the wrong thing but dont know it is wrong. They should learn before hand what is acceptable to save them from some harm.
5.

Christine.M said...

1.)One of the three ways Birgitte Vittrup's methods to test the multicultural home environments of the families in the study was to have their children watch videos such as Little Bill and Sesame Street at home where there are African American families present in the film.Another way was to bring up topics of race off of a checklist they were given.The last way was to to comment on our President Barack Obama. They were to bring up the fact that he was black. The results of these tests were when parents had to bring up race to their children they began to drop out of the program they did not want to have to talk about they simply wanted to leave it at everyone is equal.

2.)What Child Developers say about children and the in-group preference is that children are developmentally prone to in-group favoritism and that they naturally categorize everything on their own.They will make preferences of things on their own.

3.)Rebecca Bigler's recommended age for talking to children about race is the early age of 3.

4.) In my own opinion I believe we make it worse by bringing up race.As the article said we call attention to color when we bring up the color of others. Such as talking about President Obama,we are bringing attention to our children that he is different to us.I think it is better to just not bring up the subject much and let the children see on their own that everyone is equal.

5.) The nurture side of of nature vs.nurture is prevalent in this article by how it tells us to bring up the topic of race and color early to the child so they will learn not to discriminate against people who are different than them. In the article we can see nurture again through Vittrup's study by when she has families bring home videos and checklists for families that bring u topics of race. Overall I disagree. I think overall we should not bring up topics of race to our children or even to our peers. When bringing up that topic we are showing that we see people of different colors as different. I believe we should just let it be and let children see on their own everyone is equal.

sadie p said...

1) Vittrup sent one third of the families home with multiculturally themed videos for a week. The second group got the videos, and were told to use them as a conversation starter with their children. The last third were also given the checklist of topics, but no videos. These parents were to discuss racial equality on their own, every night for five nights. The results were strikingly the same as the initial tests. It turns out most parents were to uncomfortable to talk their kids about race, but the ones who did showed significant improvement.

2) Bigler's experiment seems to show how children will use whatever you give them to create divisions. This confirms that race becomes an issue only if we make it an issue. Children naturally try to categorize everything.

3) Bigler thinks its important to talk to children about race as early as the age of 3.

4) Children will notice different races whether we point them out or not. If no one mentions it to kids, they will naturally form groups. Kids believe that other kids who look similar will be more like them in personality and share the same interests. It is important to tell kids what racial differences are instead of letting them think that kids with different skin color are not fun or nice.

5) This article relates to the nature vs. nurture debate because it proves that children being racist strongly depends on the parents. Researchers said that it is important to talk to your kids about race by the age of 3. Kids are not born with racial preference, but it depends on how the parents react to the issue of racism.

Mark M said...

1. The first method was giving the children a racial attitude measure. The second method was sending the families home with multicultural themed videos for a week and were told to discuss interracial friendship. The third method was giving the family a checklist of topics where they good talk about racial equality every night on there own. Almost none of the children had changed there opinion on the matter.

2. Children were easy to develop in-group preferences. The children were split up into red and blue t-shirts. They did not segregate at recess and they continued to play with the different colors. But when asked

3.

SarahF said...

1. Vittrups first method was to give the children a racial attitude measure by asking them certain questions to see their responses. Her next method was to give the families multicultural themed videos to watch with their children. The third method was to send the families home with a check list of key points to discuss with their children every night.
2. Child development researchers say that it takes surprisingly very little for children to develop in-group preferences. Yet, it is by no means a hatred for the other group, but just a feeling of superiority for their own group.
3. Rebbeca Bingler's recommended age for talking to children about race is as early as the age of 3 years.
SarahF

Dominic F said...

1. Her first step was to give children a racial attitude measure. She did this by asking. One group had multiculturally themed videos. The second group also had the videos and these parents were supposed to use these videos as a jumping off point for a discussion about interracial friendship. The last group was also given a checklist of topics to discuss with their kids but no videos. The results for the first group was that they thought all white people were never mean and that black people are all mean or some of them were mean. The second group was thought to be just like the first group but Virtrup realized that the parents didn't even ask any of the discussion questions on the checklist. The results of the third group was

rion o said...

1. Birgitte Vittrup's three methods to test the multicultural homes were to get three groups of families with children between the ages of 5 and 7. One third of the families were sent home with multicultural themed videos for their children to watch for a week. The second group of families also got the videos, but the parents were to use these videos as a portal to talk about skin color. the last group of families were given a checklist of topics on skin color to discuss with their children every night for five nights. The results for this study was that the parents in the last group did not wish to bring skin color to their child's attention. Regardless, the childrens' views of skin color did not change.

2. Child Development researches said that a child is more likely to pick a person that is in the same "group" as them. In the study that they did with the red and blue shirts at a kindergarden, the children continued to play with each other, but when asked which group was smarter or nicer, they chose their own group.

3. Rebecca Bigler's recommended age for talk to children about race is three years old.

4. I think that we make it better by calling attention to race. If parents don't talk about race to their kids, then the children are always observing our behavior towards others. As parents, we might subconciously choose our own race to hang out with or spend time with. If parents openly talk about race to their children, then the children will realize that skin color doesn't matter and will not pay attention to skin color.

AnnaK said...

1. the three methods Vittrop used were that the sent a third of the families home with multicultural themed videos home for a week but the children's attitudes didn't change very much. She sent another third of families home with a video and a checklist of discussion questions and the last third received the checklist but no video. many of these families dropped out of the studies because they did not want to talk openly about race with their children.

2.researchers believe that children develop in-group preferences because they naturally try to categorize everything. they form their own assumptions and use whatever is clearly visible such as the color of people's skin.

3. Rebecca Bigler recommends parents to talk to their children about race as early as the age of three years old.

4. I believe that by calling attention to race, kids will be more ready to handle a diverse world. Being ignorant does not lead to healthy relationships and all types of people desrve to be respected. Parents should teach their children that it is important to be with people off all races and by doin that they must point out the differences so that the can identify the similarities.

Matt T said...

1. Her 1st step was to measure the children racial attitudes by scale. by asking questions and changing the adjective nice and dishonest and 20 other words. measuring Caucasian children from ages 5-7. She then gave a third family home with multicultural videos for a week. then she went a 2nd family home with multicultural video and asked them to have conversations about the videos and gave them a check list of topics to go over. Then the third group was given just a checklist of topics and no videos, they were supposed to talk about the topic on there own for 5 nights. 5 families dropped out once they had to talk to children about racism. The kids who answered to the first test the questions were not colorblind, asked question how many black people are mean answer was "some" and "a lot".
results: the study was a failure none of the children budged at all statistically from where they stood in the beginning of racism. This happened because parents put int he diaries that they didn't talk about the things on the checklist they brought up the phrase "were all equal" again and only 6 families who did talk to the children about it actually changed dramatically.
2.

Anonymous said...

1. Vittrup's three methods to test the families was to send home the first group of families with multiculturally themed videos for a week. Then a second group of families got the videos, were told to use them as the starting point for a discussion about interracial friendship. She provided a checklist of points to make, echoing the shows' theme. The last group were also given the checklist of topics, but no videos. These parents were to discuss racial equality on their own, every night for five nights. The results didnt turn out the way she wanted. Only a few kids changed their attitude about race because the parents didnt talk to their kids like they were told.
2. Researchers said it takes little for kids to develop in-group preferences. They segregated depending on their team color in Bigler’s study.
3. Bigler says that at age 3 you should start talking about race.
4. We make it better by drawing positive comments to race.
5. This article fits in with the nurture side of the debate. Depending on the parents attitude the child can take that preference and discriminate also.

theresac said...

1.Vittrup's study showed a few family's multicultural videos and then gave them a series of questions. He didn't expect the childrens' views to change after watching the videos but he did expect there to be an improvement after the parents had open discussions about racial differences. The study showed that most parents were afraid to talk about this with their children.
2. In group preferences, are predisposed preferences that children have to kids with their own race or sex, especially race. Babies even at the age of 6 months show signs that other races are not like the people that they are used to seeing.

Harrison Strum said...

1. Birgitte Vittrup's three methods to test the multicultural home environments of the families in the study were: Vittrup sent a third of the families home with multicultural themed videos for a week. The second group was given the videos and the checklist of topics of discussion. The third group was given just the checklist and no videos.

2. The children did not segregate in their behavior but favored their own group of colored t-shirts. They need to be taught at an early age because they tend to categorize and form preferences on their own.

3. Rebecca recommended that at the age of 3 children should be taught because it has a bigger window of opportunity to learn more. Once the children reach third grade they won't learn as well.

4. I think it is better to leave the discussion about race to children alone. My reasons for this are that children will not think of it as a big deal if it is not brought to their attention. Also because I know my parents never brought anything up about how to treat certain races and I have never been indifferent or had views of different aces.

5. I believe this article fits well with the nurture side because it tells us how people and the environment can influence children's behavior with race. The children can also be formed into making friendships and having conversation with anybody regardless of race. However, I disagree with even making race an issue with children at a young age because I think that will only make them more prone to think about the difference in races and make stereotypes.

Chaz Malewski said...

1. The three methods Vittrup used were to send a third of the families in the experiment home with videos displaying diversity, a third were sent home with both the same videos and discussion topics about them, and the last third were sent home with only discussion topics. Many families did not know how to talk to their children about the topics because they never had before. The families that did discuss them showed an improvement in their child's attitude toward another race.

2. They say that children already place things into categories of their own. Children play with all others as one but when asked which race is the best, they choose their own.

3. Rebecca Bigler recommended that children should be talked to about race as early as three years old.

4. I believe the child should be exposed to it on their own. If they see a difference among social groups then they should be the ones to develop their own beliefs, the parents should not influence it.

5. I am undecided in this artice. i think it has its benefits and it also has its flaws. If you talk to your child about race you are automatically giving them a reason to think about it instead of letting them see the world as it is. If a child does not know that someone else is different, they will treat them the same as they treat everyone else.

alex papa said...

1. First method was a racial attitude measure where she asked the children different questions about white/black people. The second method, she sent videos home with them that had mulitcultural people in them. The third method she used, she used a checklist of topics for the family to discuss together. The parents had a difficult time bringing up racial things in their discussions with there children. When the parents actually did talk to there children it improved there attitude towards others greatly.

2.In-group preferences show that whatever you give a child they will use that as a way to create a division. They don't hate the other group or dislike them, they just believe that they are better or smarter than them.

3. Rebecca Bigler recommends that parents start talking to their children about race and differences as early as age three. Because she believes if you wait too long, then your children have already formed and opinion and view point therefore it would be too late.

4. I think in a way we are creating more problems by calling attention to it because we are reinforcing the fact that people are different or one race is different from another in a bad way. If everyone is equal not one group of individuals should recieve special treatment. No one should get special treatment either for things that have been done or said, the negative things just need to end. I also believe it is better to talk about race. Children should not be raised or grow up thinking another raise is lower, more mean, ect. Everyone is equal in the United States but we certainly don't act like it.

5. This is a very good example of nurture. The way you raise your child will effect him/her for the rest of there lives. The beliefs they grow up believing will most likely stay with them forever. Its very important for parents to realize this and think about everyone else. If they strongly don't like another race then I think you should keep that to yourself for your child's sake. They need to grow up and develop there own thoughts and opinions. But parents should also guide them in the right direction and let them know that everyone was created equally and that is how they should be treated. I agree with the content because I think there is already enough violence and hate today and new parents should be trying to change these negative ways by encouraging there children to be friendly and caring for others, including all races.

Miranda L said...

1. Birgitte Vittrup's three methods to test the multicultural home environments of the families in the study were to give one group a checklist of topics to discuss at home about racial equality, give one group videos with multicultural themes to watch, and giving the final group the videos and the topics about racial equality. Five families in the group sent home with topics dropped out, saying that they did want to discuss or point out skin color to their children. When Vittrup asked children about white people and black people, a lot of responses said that there were "almost none" mean white people. When asked about mean black people, they answered "some," and "a lot."At first, following the study, Vittrup did not see any statistical changes in the children's racial views. Vittrup saw that was because the parents phrased things wrong.

2. Child development researchers say that children favor the group that they are in and think that they are better than the other group.

3. Rebecca Bigler's recommended age for talking to children about race is three years old.

4. I think that we make it better by talking to children about race and calling attention to it because children notice that different races are different from themselves, so it is important to emphasize that the different race is the same as our race no matter what their skin color is. Talking to children about these things can be extremely beneficial.

5. This article fits into the nurture side of the debate from chapter three because it suggests that racism in children is affected by the way parents feel about other races or bring the topic of different races up to their children. We are not born with a trait of knowing how to understand racism. It is up to our parents and our environment to introduce us to it in a healthy way and to have discussions about how and why we are no better than another race.

Kristin Dalphon said...

1. Birgitte Vittrup's 3 methods were to send a third of the family home to watch multicultural themed videos for a week, to send another third of the families home to watch the videos then have the parents start an explicit conversation off using the video, and the last third of the families were not given videos, but just had the discussions all week. Many of the families from the last group did not even discuss race with their children and instead dropped out of the study because they said they were not comfortable discussing race with their children. The three groups were statistically the same.

2. Child development researchers say that children are all prone to in-group favoritism and that they are going to form these preferences on their own. Children automatically try to categorize everything.

3. Bigler thinks it's important to start talking to children about race at the age of three. She thinks children are already prone to in-group favoritism so it's better to talk to them early on.

4. We make it better by calling attention to race because then it makes the children more comfortable with it. If we talk about race, children will learn at an earlier age not to judge someone by their skin color. Children will notice a difference in appearence between the two races on their own, so it is better to address it then not talk about it at all.

5.I think this article fits into the nurture side of the debate well because it discusses how a child's environment affects their thoughts on people of different races. I agree with the content because I think it is important to discuss race. It is important to discuss race because it helps the child not be so prone to in-group favoritism and it enforces the idea that race should not be an issue.

Amanda F said...

1. Birgitte Vittrup's 3 methods to test the multiculural home environments was to send a third of the families home with multicultural videos for a week, a third with videos and discussion topics, and a third got discussion topics but no video. the parents were to discuss racial equality on their own. The results were 5 families in the last group quit the study because they didnt want to talk about skin color to their children.

2. That children tend to hang out with people in their own race. Children naturally try to categorize everything./

3. Rebecca recommended the age for talking to children about race is best as early as 3 years old. Once the child has reached the age of 3rd grade, the developmental window has closed.

4. We make it better by talking about race if we talk about it in the right way. If we say something cruel about a certain race the child is going to pick up on it. If we don't call attention about being ok with every race, then the children will never learn or if they do learn they will learn the wrong way.

5. This article fits into the nurture side because it shows that if your environment is not ok with certain races, then your child will grow up and learn not to be ok with the races as well. A child could not be racist but if the child is in with a group that is, their opinions will tend to change as well.

Em Ortolano said...

Em Ortolano

Value: 10 points total

1. Identify Birgitte Vittrup's 3 methods to test the multicultural home environments of the families in the study. What were the results?
- Give the children a racial attitudes measure
- Give the parents multiracial tv shows to present to their children
- To have the parents openly talk about interracial friendships and different races.
Many of the parents who were to talk openly about race actually dropped out of the program because they just couldn’t talk about race as openly as they originally thought they would be able to. The multiracial TV shows hardly provided any change in the children, but the children whose parents really did have open discussions about race seemed to dramatically change their views and actions toward people of different races.

2. What do child development researchers say about 'in-group preferences?'
Researchers now believe that children are already born with ‘in-group preferences’.

3. What is Rebecca Bigler's recommended age for talking to children about race?
As early as 3 years old.

4. Answer this question from the article... "We all want out children to be unintimidated by differences and have the social skills necessary for a diverse world. The questions is, do we make it worse, or do we make it better, by calling attention to race?"
I think we can make the situation better by discussing race with young children. Leaving them to decide on their own what kind of differences people of different race have leaves way too much room for chance and for misguidance. Explaining to them that black people and white people are just as good as each other will greatly help them to understand that there should be no difference in treatment due to skin color.

5. How does this article fit into the nurture side of the debate from chapter 3? In general, do you agree or disagree with the content? Explain.
This article provides us with the knowledge that children have inborn tendencies for ‘in-group preferences’, but through teaching and learning, we can change their views, their behaviors and there friendships by eliminating these ‘same-race preferences’. I agree with the content of this article because of the different ways that people now deal with race. Some people are very open to other races while others still discriminate. These differences show that the inborn tendencies can be changed, otherwise, every human being would have identical feelings about race and ethnicity.

Emily Rooney said...

1. Birgitte Vittrup's had three methods to test the multicultural home environment of different families in Texas. These families were divided into three groups and given different tasks to do with their children every night for a week. These tasks were having parents show their children multicultural themed videos, watching a video and having a discussion, and a third group with just the discussion topics. The parents that followed through with this study had their children show great improvements in their child's racial attitude in just one week.

2. Children tend to have in group preferences. When playing at recess they don't segregate but when you ask which team or color is better and more nice, every child will say their own. Children will use whatever you give them to create divisions.

3. Rebecca recommends to talk to children about race as early as three years old.

4. I feel that you should talk to them about this because children will notice the differences at school or out somewhere. If you talk to them and answer any questions they have you will make them more comfortable. They will know that it's okay to be friends with people of other races and will help your child be more social and not afraid to be with people of other races.

5. This article fits with the nurture side because of how they can be influenced. If you say how bad the people of one race may be then your child will then think of them in the same way. If you talk to your child they can have an easier time making friends and being more comfortable in school or in a situation with people of other races. I agree with this article because I don't feel that we should discriminate. I have many friends that are of other races and I can't imagine how people are so prejudiced. If you tell your child what you believe and how you view things then they won't pick up what other people say at school or in social settings. The parent is the most important role model so if you start off teaching them in a good way then they will follow your examples.

Jfileti said...

1. Birgitte Vittrups 3 methods to test the multicultural environments of the families were to send one third of the families home with multicultural themed videos, such as Sesame Street, send one third home with discussion topics and videos, and one third with only discussion topics. The results came out to be that a fraction of the parents did not want to talk to their children about race, so decided not to participate any longer in the experiment. The other parents saw improvements in their children.

2. Researchers say that children naturally favor the group they are put into. They do not show feelings of hatred towards the other group, they have an attitude that they are, in some way, superior.

3.Rebecca recommends that children should be talked to about race at an age as early as 3 years. Children naturally categorize everything, and, due to this, it is important to address the issue before they could develop racist views.

4. Even though this issue must be presented to children at such a young age in order to have an effect, I think it is important to talk to children abut race. I think parents should talk to their children as early as possible to instill the mentality that all ethnicity does not make a person different. Parents must also be positive role models.

5.This article fits into the nurture side of the debate because categorizing groups, or racism, is a natural occurence for a child. The article suggests that through nurture, we can "train" children to not descriminate against other races. Before I read this article, I was unaware of childrens' natural thoughts and behaviors when it comes to groups and race. I think it is important to inform children, in different ways than saying "We are all equal" that ethnicity has nothing to do with a person's capabilities.

Gabrielle R said...

1. Brigitte Vittrup's 3 methods to test multicultural home environments in the study was using three test groups. The first group was given multicultural videos to watch for a week. The second group was given the videos and the parents were told to talk to their children about racial differences. The third group's parents were told to talk about racial differences, but given no video's. Most of the children's racial attitudes didn't change accept the children whose parents actually did talk about race with them.

2. They say children believe people who look similar to them share preferences and enjoy the same things they do. They categorize things naturally and believe the group they belong to as better.

3. Rebecca recommends parents to talk to their children about race around 3 to first grade.

4. I think we should teach our children that race doesn't matter and to treat everyone equally. They already see the differences in races so we don't need to specifically call it out, but just teach them that all people are equal no matter what.

5. This article is showing that how we teach our children about race will help them develop their ideas about race. They will naturally categorize people into groups, so we must nurture them in a way that will show them that all people are equal.

Leanne E said...

1. The first families of Vittrup's study were to watch movies of multiculture them videos for a week. The second group of families were to watch the movies as well but include a discussion on the videos. While the third set of families were to just discuss topics that Vittrup had set up for them. A lot of families dropped out of the study because they did not want their children to "point out skin color". As for the other families Vittrup discovered some the parents did not do the experiment correctly because they did not know how to ask discuss it.

2. Children do not act different while in a group, but they do feel some groups are better then others. By the way they are treated and such. Even if they are divided up by t shirt, the assume one group is still better than the other.

3.Rebecca Bigler's recommended age is as early as three years of age.

4. I think we make it worse by seperating it by race because parent's are calling attention to the different skin types even if they are saying something positive or negative about them.

5. This fits into the nurture side by children being influenced by their parents behavior and how they respond to people as their parents do. Also how children look up to their parent and are always learning from them. Well I agree with the content that children are always mimicking how you act and react towards different people of different races. Parents should be aware what they are saying around their children.

Veronica Z said...

1. The 3 methods are to see if multicultural videos would influence a child’s racial attitude. Vittrup sent 1/3 of families home with multicultural videos in which blacks and whites played role. A second group of families were sent home with videos. Vittrup told the parents to use them as the jumping-off point for a discussion about interracial friendships. The last third were also given the checklist of topics, but no videos. These parents were to discuss racial equality on their own, every night for five nights.

2. It takes remarkably little for children to develop in-group preferences. Her reasoning is that kids are developmentally prone to in-group favoritism. They're going to form these preferences on their own. Children naturally try to categorize everything, and the attribute they rely on is that which is the most clearly visible.

3. Rebecca’s recommended age for talking to children about race is as early as 3 to 5 years of age but also children in first grade.

4. I believe we make it worse because calling attention to it means pointing it out. When we point things out most of the time there is something wrong with what we pointed out and it is out of place. If we didn’t call attention to race then it would leave children to decipher their opinion about race on their own without any help.

5. I think how children view races depends on how their parents view it and how they present the concept of being prejudice or not being prejudice to the child. If children weren't taught how to feel and react to other races then they are forced to make decisions for themself which i believe is better for everyone.

Ben M said...

1. Birgitte Vittrup's 3 methods to test the multicultural home environments of the families in the study was having three groups of parents talk to their children about multicultural themes. The first group had the parents bring home multicultural themed videos to show to their children. the second group had the videos and discussion questions for their children. The third group of parents just were to bring home the discussion questions. Many of the families didn't even discuss the discussion questions because the parents didn't know how to talk to their children about the subject.

2. Children seem to have in group favoritism more then segregation against the other group. Children categorize everthing very easily.

3. She says the recommended age for children to talk about race is at the age of 3. she says once children reach the third grade, they can not be taught about race very easily.

4.I believe that talking to children at a younger age can be very beneficial for them. Bit is very hard for parents to talk to their children about race because they don't want to say the wrong thing and have their children see a race in a certain way.

5.this article fits into chapter three because it takes the side of nurture. The article talks about discussions with children and how what the parent says can reflect on what the child thinks. i agree with the article because i believe that parents should talk to their children about race at an early age.

Erin L said...

1. Vittrup's 3 methods to test multicultural home environments of the families in the study were to send 1/3 of the families videos with multicultural themed videos, 1/3 with videos and checkpoint questions and 1/3 with discussion questions. Some parents did not want to have these discussions with their children and dropped out of the study. Also, Vittrup realized that some of the children weren't fully understanding the "Everyone is equal" themes.

2. Child development researchers say that in-group preferences are normal. Children try and categorize in their own mind.

3. Bigler thinks that the recommended age for discussing race is 3 years old.

4. I think that race should be discussed but, not to the point that the child only notices skin color. It is an important subject and it needs to be discussed with children.

5. This article relates to the nurture side of the debate because it is all about what kind of environment the child grows up in. The article refers to parenting ideas and how adults can discuss different races with their children. I agree with most of the ideas in this article. However, I believe that there are times to discuss race and time it is not necessary. We need to make sure discussion is balanced.

Lauren Z said...

1. Birgitte Vittup's three methods were to assign three groups of families a different assignment to study their childrens' responses to race. The first group was sent home with multicultural videos and asked to simply show them to the children for one week. The second group was asked to watch the videos and discuss interracial friendship. The last group just had to have discussions from a checklist of topics.
The results were that the last group dropped out because they were uncomfortable discussing race with their children. The first and second groups showed little change, but that was due to the families not effectively discussing race. The few families who did have discussions, however, were more open.

2. It takes remarkably little for children to develop in-group preferences. They use whatever you give them to create divisions, which means that race is not an issue unless you make it.

3. Rebecca suggests that a good age for talking to children about race is age 3.

4. I think that it can be better for children to talk about race early on in development. Children follow their parent's examples, so if parents are open and comfortable with talking about race and equality then children will do the same.

5. This follows the nurture side because it describes how discussing topics such as race with your children can help their views of race and interracial friendships, etc. By talking to children, it can influence their opinions and how it effects their relationships.

Lauren B said...

1.Vittrups three methods to test multicultural home environments of famillies in the study were sending a third of family with multicultural themed videos for a week. Another third with the videos and discussion about interracial friendship.The final third were given no videos but the checklist of topics. The results were that those who asked the discussion questions , their childrens' racial attitudes had improved with a week.

2.Children like to catergorize things, for example, blue is for boys, pink is for girls. They do not segregate in their behavior.They like to follow with groups they have been placed.

3.She recommended to talk to children about race as early as three years old.

4. I believe that we make in fact do make it worse if we do not call attention to race. Children need to know that it is okay for people to be different. If parents don't talk to their child about race, the child could be influenced by others that race is something to worry about. Children need to be guided into a life where race shouldn't matter.

5. I think it fits into the nurture side of the debate from chapter three because it is explaining problems that arise in the world that were taught, not born. Children do not know if they should be racist or not, until they are influenced by another. Parents need to sit with their children and discuss the situation with words that the child will understand. If parents do not lead their child on the right path, then the child could be lead by others on the wrong path.

Marra Taylor said...

1. Her first step was to give the children a Racial Attitude Measure. Her second step was to give the parents videos and tv shows to show to their children and the third step was for the parents to talk openly about race. A lot of the families ask the discussion because they didn't know what to say. However the ones that did showed that their children improved their racial thoughts.


2.The study they used to show this was giving the students colored shirts (red and blue) and not telling them they are in a certain groups. But when asked to go in teams they all went to the team that was there shirt color because they thought their team color was the best or better then the rest. This shows that children will use whatever given to them to make divisions. This showed the researchers that race is only a issue only if we make it an issue. developmentally prone to in-group favoritism; they're going to form these preferences on their own. Children naturally try to categorize everything, and the attribute they rely on is that which is the most clearly visible.

3.as early as three years old.

4.I think we make the situation better by calling out the race of other people and making our children aware because all people are different and it is important for our children to know this and understand this and explaining to them one is not better then the other will make them realize everyone is the same and equal.

5.This article does fit into the nurture side of chapter three. It shows us how we learn from whats around us. It also teaches us how we learn from our parents. If our parents sit down with us at a young age and talk about race the children’s racial thoughts improve but if they don’t the children do no know.

I agree with this content. I believe that children should be taught the right way and early on rather then later. They would know that it is not right to not treat everyone equal and know that no one is better then the other

Dana T said...

1.Birgitte Vitrup"s three methods of testing the multicultural home environment's in about 100 Caucasian families with a child 5-7 years old was giving a third of the families a multicultural themed video for their child to watch for a week, giving another third questions to ask their child and discuss different races for a week and giving the last third the video and the questions to discuss with their children. Most families admitted to not even wanting to bring up the questions about different races with their children. And the children that only watched the video for a week barely changed in the racial opinions.

2.Child development researches say that children tend to choose what is closest to what they are or what they have. They seperate themselves from those who have or are anything less similiar than them.

3.Rebecca Bigler recommends talking t your child as early as age 3, about multicultural differences. They are going to make the preferences by themselves because they create divisions among races of others with whatever they can. She says it only becomes an issue when we make it an issue.

4.I think that depending on the way the parent brings up the multicultural topic to their child determines whether it becomes an issue or not. The parent should bring it up in a nice way and be sure to never say or do anything racist in front of their child so they know that there is nothing wrong with other races.

5.This article fits into the nurture side of the nature-nurture debate because it is explaining that whatever you teach your child or surround your child with when they are young is how they will form their own opinions. If you surround your child in a positive and non-racist environment, and let them know that one race is not better then the other then they will never think anything of other people of different races. I agree with the content mostly, because I think that as long as you postively discuss issues in the world with your children they won't have bad opinions about things.

Josean O said...

1.) Birgitte Vittrup's 3 methods to test the multicultural home environments of the families in the study were to send a third of the families home with multicultural themed videos for a week, another third of the families to watch videos and use discussion topics about race, and the final third families had to just talk about the issue with their children. The kids who watched movies didn’t change their opinions on race and he children who just discussed the issue with their parents who followed the directions properly improved their racial attitudes.


2.) The child development researches say that children automatically favor in-group tendencies. Most children end up hanging out with kids who are similar to them in the way they look including color of their skin. The children associate color of the skin with the other kid having the same interests as them or not.

3.) Rebecca Bigler's recommended age for parents talking to children about race is at about the age of three.

4.) I believe that talking to children about race at a young age can be very beneficial if it’s done correctly. I think that we can make it better by explaining to the children why we are different, and that it is a good thing to be different. This is shown in this article, when we talk to our kids about this issue of race then their racial attitudes improve dramatically.

5.) This article fits into the nurture side of the debate. When the parents have certain conversations and discussions then the children learn that race shouldn't be a real big issue. That it is ok to be friends with kids of all races. Without the nurture side kids wouldn’t have anything to look at to try to be like, they wouldn’t know if it’s bad to be racist or not. I personally agree with this article because if we teach our kids the right thing the first time then there wouldn’t be any problems. The kids would know what the right thing to do is and to not judge by the color of the other kids skin. It’s a much better idea to teach our kids about races, rather than have them try to figure it out on their own.

AlexC said...

1. Birgitte Vittrup's 3 methods to test the multicultural home environments of the families in the study were to send one third of the families home with children's videos that were inter racial and had good inter racial scenarios, the second group were sent home with the same videos but the parents were told to discuss inter racial friendship and so fourth by using the videos as some topics, the third group was given no videos, only a list of discussion topics for parents to discuss with their child about race and inter racial topics, and were to do this every night for five nights. The result of this was a slim to no difference from the beginning of the experiment. Children's opinions barely changed except for the children in the third group. There thoughts on inter racial friendships improved dramatically.

2. Child development researchers say children segregate themselves due to favoritism and how they are alike to one another. A child more likely favors another child who looks like them or is the same in some way.

3. Rebecca Bigler's recommended that parents should talk to children as early as three because they are influenced greatly at a younger age.

4. I think talking about race can improve a child's view on differences of other people and inter racial relationship. Parenting and nurturing has a great influence on how a child will view things later in life. If a parent openly discusses race and differences of other people in a positive way, the child will see everyone more equal and will not be intimidated by differences.

5. This article fits into the nurture side of the debate. The facts and the outcome of the experiment shows that the families who openly talked about race with their child improved how their child viewed inter racial differences. Where as at the start of the experiment where the child was not taught or did not talk about race with their parents was different. I agree with this information because I believe it is important to teach your child that every one should not be judged what they look like, and discussing this with your children will teach them that point.

alexisp said...

1. Identify Birgitte Vittrup's 3 methods to test the multicultural home environments of the families in the study. What were the results?

Birgitte Vittrup experimented with about one hundred families. She divided a third of the families and gave them multicultural theme videos and asked them to show them to their children for a week. The second group was given videos and also asked for the parents to use the videos as a way to begin a conversation with their child about race. They were given a checklist of topics to discuss. The third group was also given a checklist of topics to discuss, however, they were not assigned a video.

Five families from the third group quit the experiment because they were uncomfortable with speaking directly about race with their children. After the experiment the children showed no change in their racial attitudes. Only six families managed to discuss openly about race and those six families were the only ones whose children’s racial attitudes improved.

2. What do child development researchers say about 'in-group preferences?'
Researchers say it doesn’t take long for children to develop in-group preferences. Vittrups experiment in three preschool classrooms displayed how children create divisions. Children may not see people who don’t look like them as bad, just not as good as them. In-group preferences also are developed at an early age. Children in first grade are more likely to be influenced by multicultural environments then third graders.

3. What is Rebecca Bigler's recommended age for talking to children about race?
Bigler recommended talking to children at the age of three about race.

4. Answer this question from the article... "We all want out children to be unintimidated by differences and have the social skills necessary for a diverse world. The questions is, do we make it worse, or do we make it better, by calling attention to race?"

I think it is important to talk to your children about race because it is an important topic about the world. The child will notice racial differences whether the parents speaks about it or not. However, if the parent has an open relationship with the child and speaks openly about racial differences, the parent has the opportunity to properly educate the child about racial differences.

5. How does this article fit into the nurture side of the debate from chapter 3? In general, do you agree or disagree with the content? Explain.

This article fits in with the nurture side because the experiments are proving how a child’s environment and how a parent talks t their child about race affect a child’s racial attitudes. I agree that the environment in which the child grows up in affects the child views towards different races.

BrianK said...

1. Birgittie Vittrup’s used three methods to test the multicultural home environments of the families in the study. Before Vittrup used these methods she decided to get a baseline on the children’s thoughts were to give the children a Racial Attitude Measure test in which sentences with races and ethnic groups are linked to various synonyms which vary from positive to negative connotations and the questions ask how much the children agree with the statements which vary from almost all, a lot, some, not many and none. The first method was sending a third of the families home with multicultural themed videos for the week, which she figured would have little effect since prior research had shown these types of videos are too vague for the children to pick up race and skin color as the focus. The second method was to send the these video to the second third of families in addition to having the families discuss these topics with the children after watching these videos, which she assumed would make a more dramatic result. The third method was to have the last third of families talk about these topics without watching the videos as a bounce off point with parents discussing racial equality alone for 5 nights. The results of these tests showed that the racial opinions of the children had little change after these methods were used.

2. Child development researchers say that children don’t usually segregate their behavior around different ethnic groups thus making them prone to developing to an in-group bias. In addition children try to make everything simpler then what they are in reality so they make assumptions on the connections they see which leads them toward this in-group bias as well.

3. Rebecca Bigler’s recommended age for talking to children about race as early as three years old in its basic stages, and that until the first grade these children can still be influenced for racial equality or be pushed the other direction as well if they are raised in an environment that supports that bias, but by the time the child reaches the third grade whichever racial attitude they hold is going to stick.

4. By addressing race early in a child’s life we can succuessfully make a difference in the way they view race. However it can be reasoned that avoiding the issue completely could make them colorblind, but in practice this very hard to do and can have mixed results. Even if unintentional parents can point their children toward racial bias in the way they act both overtly, through their actions and emotions when they engage other ethnic groups in front of their children.

5. This ties into the nature-nurture debate by bringing attention to the cause of racial bias or racial equality by a person being a nature occurrence or being a characteristic that is developed through the nurturing a child receives in their youth.

Angie M said...

1. 1. First, Vittrup sent 1/3 of the total participants home with multiculturally themed video for a week such as specific episode of Sesame Street and Little Bill for the children to watch. The children were to watch these videos with no insight from their parents. Vittrup found that this experiment had less of an impact than they expected them to. Second, Vittrup sent the second third of the participants home with these same videos as well as talking points about race to bring up with the children while watching the video. She believed that this option would work. Third, Vittrup sent the remaining participants home with just the talking points to discuss the option of race with their children without the aid of the video. During this study, several families dropped out merely because they didn’t want to point out skin color in a conversation with their children. She discovered that parents wanted to raise their children colorblind by not brining up the issue of race, but in reality, these particular children were more concerned with the issue of race and the ones who were talked to about race, changed their perspective.

2. It is not natural for children to segregate. They have the tendency to chose people of their own or similar color which is the idea of in-group favoritism. Children are more likely to classify things by what they can visible see.

3. Vittrup believes that children should be taught about race as early as the age of 3. At this age, their brains are still developing their first conclusions of race. As they age, they are less likely to be influenced against their original views and will have their "developmental window" will close.

4. I think it is important to bring up the issue of race with children if done so in an appropriate manner. It is important that children understand that racial issues are still huge problems today but that race should not be a determinate. If we can influence our children at younger ages to turn away from discrimination based on race, the future generations will have a lot less rascism and hatred.

5. Children are born free of racist thoughts, but depending on how they are "nurtured" or influenced by their culture, family, and surroundings, their opinions could be swayed one particular way. They are more likely to believe what the society around them believes. I agree with the content. I think race is a very important issue to be addressed, and we have the capability to prevent racism for the future.

Zach Dennis said...

1- The three methods used by Birgitte Vittrup in her study on diversity in young children were; sending one group home with multicultural videos and discussion topics, one with just the videos, and one with just the discussion topics. It was found that none of these three approaches yielded many results. The childrens' thoughts barely changed at all.

2- Child development researchers have found that childrens' "in group preferences" are people that are similar to themselves. Children would rather play with and be around other kids that are like them. This includes most things from race to t-shirt color.

3- Rebecca Bigler recommends talking to kids about race at about the age of three. The latest you can talk to them is about 1st grade. 3rd grade is too late however.

4- I think that we do make it better. Kids are going to draw conclusions if we say anything or not. We might as well point out that race is a non-factor and that we are all equal.

5- I think that this article fits in with the nature side of the argument. It was shown in the study that kids as young as 6 months old were distinguishing between racing and reacting differently to different races. I agree with this content and think that it is a good thing to try and teach kids earlier.

Zach D said...

1. Virttrup's 3 methods that tested the multicultural home environments of the families were sending them home with multicultural videos, videos and topic discussions, and just discussion topics for a week each. The families that did these methods improved their childrens' racist views.
2.children don't try to segregate they just naturally put everything in different groups on their own.
3.rebecca stated that you should talk to children about race around the age of 3.
4.we make it better by talking to our children about race because that way when they are growing up they learn the right way to treat people who are different then they are.
5.This article fits with the nurture side of development because by teaching our children what is right they can learn that racism is a big deal and treating people bad because they are a different race is unacceptable. I agree with the article and think it is a great way to teach kids.

Natalie B. said...

1. Birgitte Vittrup's three methods to test the multicultural home environments of the families in the study were to give one third of the families multicultural themed videos for a week, gave another third of the families the videos and told them to use them as a jumping-off point for a discussion about interracial friendship, and the last third were not given videos, but were told to talk to their kids about interracial friendship. It turned out that only six families were actually able to have a discussion about race, and those children's racial attitudes improved. The other children, though, did not change their attitudes at all.

2. Researchers say that kids are developmentally prone to in-group favoritism; they're going to form these preferences on their own. Children naturally try to categorize everything, and the attribute they rely on is that which is the most clearly visible.

3. Rebecca Bigler recommends that parents should talk to their children about race as early as age three.

4. I think that we can make it better by talking openly about race because the children can learn that though we look different we are all the same. Talking about race will not eliminate the division, though. As Biglar's experiment showed, children will use whatever you give them to create divisions. Whether we talk about race or not, the division will always be present.

5. This article fits into the nurture side of the nature vs. nurture debate because it shows that the children whose parents spoke openly about race had a better racial attitude. Those who were not spoken to about race had a racial attitude that they were better than other races.

Emily J said...

1. One third of the families participating were sent home with multicultural themed videos for a week, a third were sent home only with topics to discuss, and the last third was sent home with both the videos and the discussion topics. Before this happened every child was given a racial attitude test to see how they already stood on racism.

2. Child development researchers say that most children are prone to in-group favoritism. Children have a way of grouping almost everything into a group that they favor over another, as seen in the T-shirt experiment. It is a natural thing that kids group things and recognize those which are most understood, or seen, by them.

3. Rebecca recommends that the best age to talk to children about race is around 3 years of age.

4. I feel that in certain respects we can make the topic of race worse. Sometimes when we are trying to explain a point to a child it comes across as a different meaning than what we really intend. However, I think that if the topic is presented in the right way we have the ability to help people understand race and not think of it in a negative manner.

5. This article fits with the nurture side of the argument because it says that we help shape our children's minds about race. By discussing the topic with them we can shape the way they think about race. It is important that they don't think race is a negative thing that can hinder their development, making friends, and decisions later in life. I agree with the article because I feel it is a parents responsibility to talk to their child and tell them that being a different color does not effect the kind of person someone is.

Shane LH said...

1. Vitturp's methods of testing the multi-cultural home environments were sending one group with multi-cultural videos of TV programs. Another group was given both the videos and discussion prompts for after watching the video. The final group was given only the discussion prompts. The results were most groups didn't change, because the parents didn't bring up the required topics. In the families that did bring them up, the children's racial attitude improved in a week.

2. Child development researchers say that "in-group preferencing" is a natural part of a child's development. It is obvious that children rely on categorizing to be able to understand their world.

3. Rebecca Bigler recommends that children at the age of 3 are taught about race, as that is the most prime developmental period.

4. I believe it all depends on the way we talk about race. If we discuss race and discrimination and fully explain it to our kids, and then use figures such as Barack Obama, Martin Luther King Jr., and Nelson Mandela to prove to them that regardless of skin color, people can do something with themselves and deserve equal amounts of respect. Even though bringing up the differences causes children to notice them, there is no support to prove that they develop predjudice just because they know the difference. If anything, it makes them more aware, and therefore more capable in supporting equality.

5. This article relates to the nurture side of the nature v. nurture debate because it shows through various studies that children can be taught to recognize and possibly discriminate against different colors and types, such as the study with the children in two groups, wearing red or blue shirts. I agree with the content of the article because i think it is essential for your kids to be aware of the differences between people. I believe that is the only way to teach them not to discriminate is to educate them on what not to discriminate against first.

Kristina M said...

1. Birgitte Vittrup's 3 methods were to send 1/3 of the families home with a video, another third were to take home the videos and discussion topics, and the final third were giving a checklist of topics without any videos. Most of the families found it too uncomfortable to talk to their children about race but the families that did talk to their children improved their racial attitudes in one week.

2. Child development researches say that children are more prone to picking groups based on what is most similar to them. Even in the t-shirt study, the children that were wearing the same colored t-shirts thought that they were better than the "other team."

3. Rebecca Bigler's recommended age for talking to children about race is three years old.

4. I believe that talking about race with a young child can be a healthy thing as long as it's done in the right way. Because children have a tendency to group based on similarities, i think it is important to teach them that someone with different colored skin is no different than anyone else. Especially with proven studies showing that it can be beneficial, I think parents should make sure their children know that skin color doesn't make you any different than another child.

5. This article fits into the nurture side of the debate because a baby isn't born knowing that there are people with different races. If a baby is only exposed to one ethnicity for most of it's childhood, then he/she will prefer that ethnicity. When a child groups, it is based on their experiences so it is a learned process. I agree with the content of the author. I think that parents should talk to their children about race as early as possible.

Maggie Campbell said...

1. Birgitte Vittrup’s 3 methods to test the multicultural home environment of the families in the study was splitting the families into 3 groups. The first group of families was sent home with multiculturally themed videos for a week, such as Sesame Street, where people of different races come together and work together. The second group was sent home with the same videos and a checklist of points and discussion topics about interracial friendship to talk about with their children. The Third group were given only the checklist of topics and no videos. These parents were to discuss racial equality on their own, every night for five nights.

2. Child development researchers say that most children do not have in-group preferences. They associate with people similar to themselves. Children naturally try to categorize everything, and the attribute which they rely on is that which is the most clearly visibly.

3. Rebecca Bigler’s recommended are for talking to children about race is around 3 years old. First graders are easily influenced, but around third grade most children have made up their mind, and the development window has already closed.

4. Since race is such a controversial subject in today’s society I believe that it is right for parents to discuss it with their children in order to clear up any question they may have.

5. This article fits in with the nurture side of the debate because it shows how much of an impact parents can have on their children. Parents are models for their children whether they want to be or not, so if a child observes their parent talking down about a certain race or stereotype, they will do the same. But if a child is taught that everyone is equal, no matter what color they are, then they will feel more comfortable and at ease with interracial friendships.

Brett P said...

1. Vittrup’s 3 methods included giving 1/3 of the parents multicultural themed videos for the week in which the characters had interracial friendships and see if that changed the child’s attitude, the next was to give another group the videos but advised the parents to use the video as a conversation starter with the children and she provided a checklist of points that echoed the shows’ themes, the last was to give the parents a checklist of topics to discuss but no videos.
2. Researchers say that children will use whatever you give them to create divisions and they will always choose the group that they are in to be favored over the other group, kids are prone to in-group favoritism, they will form these preferences on their own.
3. Rebbeca Biglers’s recommended age for talking to children about race is 3.
4. I think we make it better by calling attention to race if we teach our kids that there is nothing wrong with being of another color and that they are equal to us. We make it worse by not calling attention and let kids develop attitudes by themselves through what they watch and hear from the media.
5. This article shows that racial discrimination is not predetermined and you can influence your child to be one way or the other. I agree with what was said in the article because I think we can help our children to not discriminate by race if we teach them. Doing so would make it easier for the children growing up having interactions with other races.

kera Henderson said...

1. Brigitte Vittrup split about 100 family into three groups. the first family were sent home with multicultural theme videos. the children were watching Sesame Street or Little Bill. The second family received the same theme, but they had to encourage their children about interracial friendship. the last family had a list of topics to describe with the children. but they didn't have a movie like the other families. they had to discuss racial situation. Many family dropped out because they didn't want to discuss racism with their children. the only children that improved were the children of the six families whose parents talked about racism.

2. Children would use anything the parent gives them to describe an individual. child development researchers say that children are all prone to in group favoritism.

3. its important to start talking to children about racism at the age of three.

4.i think that parent should talk about racism because if they dont then the children wont notice it on their own and they will go by what they already know about individual. thats only because they dont know any better.

5. This article fits into the nurture side because it discusses how a child's environment affects their through about everyone. I think its important that a parent talks to his/ her child about racism. just so they know right and wrong. we are all family. also its important that the parent help the child not to be prone to in group favoritism.

chudz said...

1. Birgitte Vittrup used 3 methods which sent a third of the families home with multiculturally themed videos for a week, a group with videos and discussion topics, and the last group with just discussion topics. Five members in the final group took their children out of it because they did not want there children basing each other on color. Vittrup found that the parents did not discuss what they were suppose to on the checklist.

2. The children in the experiment played with each other during recess but when asked who was better they chose there color.Bigler's experiment seems to show how children will use whatever you give them to create divisions. This shows that race becomes an issue only if we make it an issue.

3. Bigler recommends the age of 3 years old to start talking to your children about race.

4. I think parents should talk to their kids about it but not make a big deal. If parents just explain to them that they are the same type of person we are, but the only difference is different skin color. i think talking about this issue of race will make kids more comfortable when they are in situations with different ethnicities.

5. This relates to Nurture in Chapter 3 because it shows how discussing different problems with your kids can change their way of thinking. I agree with the article because I beleive that it shows the good that can come out of talking to your kids at a young age.

Anna L. said...

1) Birgitte Vittrup's 3 methods to test the multicultural home environments of the families in the study were to have a third of the families watch multicultural themed videos for a week, a third of the families watch the videos and discuss interracial topics, and to have the other third of families just discuss the interracial topics. Vittrup found that many of the children actually were racist when asked certain questions. Also, many of the parents had trouble talking about the different races.

2) Child development researchers say that children don't segregate in their behavior, but they do prefer their own race, or color. Children also create divisions whenever we allow them to.

3) Rebecca Bigler's recommended age for talking to children about race is at the age of 3.

4) I think we make it better for children by calling attention to race because this is the developmental period when their minds are forming conclusions about race. Studies show that it is possible that by third grade, when parents feel like it is appropriate to talk about race, the child's developmental window has already been closed.

5) This article fits into the nurture side of debate because it shows parents that by influencing and teaching their children about different things, such as race, they can effect the way their children think and behave. I agree with this article and I think parents should communicate with their children about race. They should not just talk about treating everyone equally, but they should also talk about the differences of races. They should educate their children about how all people are different, no matter what race or ethnicity.

Brian O said...

1. Vittrup's three methods to test the multicultural home environments of the families in the study were to split the families into three groups. The first got multiculturally themed videos for a week and told to share them with their children. The second group was given the videos and were told to use them as starting points for discussion on interracial friendships. The third group of the experiment was not given the videos, but were told to have conversations with their children about interracial friendships. The results varied. The parents with the checklist never spoke with their children about different races in some cases. In the last group, some parents refused to discuss race. The three groups were statistically the same when they were tested again.

2..Researchers say that most children were easy to develop in-group preferences. The children favor the group that they are in over the other groups.
3. Rebecca recommended to talk to children about race as early as 3 years of age. Children in first grade can also be influenced, but by third grade the developmental window is no longer open.

4. In my personal opinion, I don’t find it to be necessary to call attention to race. I think that children really only notice the difference of someone’s race if an adult points it out. If a child inquires about the racial difference, however, a brief explanation about race should be made to the child.

5. The article fits in with the nurture side for a number of reasons. It explains how the parents’ role in the child’s life greatly impacts how the child may act with social skills and with dealing with different races. In general, I agree with the article. I believe that it is important for parents to teach their children that everyone is equal.

janessa Rescigno said...

1.--1.Videos with a multicultural theme, the children said that some or a lot of blacks were mean
2.Videos with parents giving a discussion, with the six that followed the rules the kids attitudes improved
3.No videos just discussion, parents were dropping out because they didn’t want to bring up skin color.

2.--it takes very little for children to develop in-group preferences. When given the shirts the kids thought that their color was better.

3.--As early as 3 years old.

4.--By mentioning race I think we draw attention to the fact that blacks are a different color than whites, and people generally connect different with bad. So if we just go on living as usual and draw no attention to that fact that the opposite race is different then there shouldn’t be a problem. If a kid asks why they are black or white the parents should just say because they came out that way.

5.--It goes with the nurture side because of how parents are such an influence on their kids. If the parents hate blacks then so will the kids. I agree with this because until the child is old enough for school the only way they can learn is through their parents.

janessa Rescigno said...

1.--1.Videos with a multicultural theme, the children said that some or a lot of blacks were mean
2.Videos with parents giving a discussion, with the six that followed the rules the kids attitudes improved
3.No videos just discussion, parents were dropping out because they didn’t want to bring up skin color.

2.--it takes very little for children to develop in-group preferences. When given the shirts the kids thought that their color was better.

3.--As early as 3 years old.

4.--By mentioning race I think we draw attention to the fact that blacks are a different color than whites, and people generally connect different with bad. So if we just go on living as usual and draw no attention to that fact that the opposite race is different then there shouldn’t be a problem. If a kid asks why they are black or white the parents should just say because they came out that way.

5.--It goes with the nurture side because of how parents are such an influence on their kids. If the parents hate blacks then so will the kids. I agree with this because until the child is old enough for school the only way they can learn is through their parents.

Michael C said...

1. Vittrup's 3 methods include sending a group of family's home with mulitcultural videos. The second method was that she gave a second group the videos as well and a checklist for topics to discuss with their child about race. The third group just got the checklist and no videos.
2. If you ask children questions such as the t-shirt experiment they will almost always say their "team" or side is better. Even though they play together they say the kids don't neccessarily think that the other "team" is bad but just not as good as them.
3. She thought the age was three.
4. We make them aware of the different issues that race can be brought up in. We should tell them that they are just like the same as everyone else. What we shouldn't do is present the ideas in such a way that is downing a certain race or ethnicity but rather speak of postives and that black, brown, white, and yellow races all have the same equal oppurtunity. Children learn from their parents and if you are positive and open about it then your child is that much more likely to not be discriminate especially to blacks if your child is white.
5. It fits in to Chapter three because children aren't just born hating white people if they are black or vice-versa. They are taught this from their parents by their parents act and respond to the people they encounter. Their child sees this and acts upon it. I agree with the fact we should teach them to not be colorblind because children associates likes and dislikes more that meets the eye. If parents don't give them explanations then children will make up their own and thats not right.

Morgan McCartan said...

1. Birgitte Vittrup had three methods to test the multicultural home environments of the families in the study. First, she sent a third of the families she recruited home to watch multicultural themed videos for a week. She then sent a third of the families home with the videos and a checklist to discuss with their children. She sent the last third of families home only with the checklist, and no videos. Some of the families dropped out because they weren't comfortable talking to their children about race. Most of the childrens' views on race didn't change at all after the study.

2. Researches say that children are developmentally prone to in-group favoritism. Children try to categorize by what is most visible. They assume that children in the same group share the same interests, characteristics, etc.

3. Rebecca's recommended age to talk to children about race is three years old.

4. I think that we make it better by calling attention to race. Skin color is something that is obvious, so children are going to notice it whether it's brought up or not. Talking to kids about race at a early age will help them to be less racist in their life.

5. This article fits into the nurture side of the debate from Chapter 3 because it says that if parents talk to their children at an early age it will have a effect on them, and they will be less prone to discriminating and racism. I agree with the article because the only way to prevent racism is for parents to talk to their children at an early age.

JulDom. said...

1. Birgitte Vittrup sent one third of families home with multicurtural videos for a week. He took another one third of families and sent them home with the same videos but with a checklist of topics. Lastly, he gave the last third a checklist of topics but no videos. The results were that most families had never talked openly about race to their children. Vittrup concluded that the children whose parents did talk openly about race improved their childrens racial attitudes in one week.

2. Researchers say that kids are developmentally prone to in-group favoritism. They're going to form these preferences on their own. Children naturally try to categorize everything, and the attribute they rely on is that which is the most clearly visible. An example would be a black person categorizing another black person as strong and nice because that's what they are.

3. Bigler believes that we can/should talk to our child about racism as early as the age of 3.

4. Talking about race at a young age can benefit a child tremendously. This period of our children's lives, when we imagine it's most important to not talk about race, is the very developmental period when children's minds are forming their first conclusions about race. Therefore, if parents don't talk about race to their children they won't know what to think or expect about other races. If parents model and tell their children that it's okay to interact with other races then the children will model the same.

5. This article fits into nurture because the studies show that parents who talk to their children have better attitudes about race. Parents who don't talk to their children don't show any change in attitude toward races. I do agree with the content because if you don't talk to your children about race or even anything they're not going to learn to accept different races or things in life.

Felicia Gojmerac said...

1. Vittrup sent a third of the families home with multiculturally themed videos
2. The second group of families got the video’s as well. However; the parents were told to use them as the jumping-off point for a discussion about interracial friendship. Vittrup provided a checklist of points to make that echoed the shows’ themes.
3. The third group were given the checklist of topics to talk about, but were not given the videos.
Results: Surprisingly some families dropped out immediately. They didn’t want to talk to their kids about race and color. As for the others, their attitudes on race didn’t really change. Vittrup attributed this to the fact that many of the parents barely mentioned the checklist items.

Kids didn’t segregate in their behavior. They just felt that their group was better to belong to.

As early as age 3.

I wouldn’t say we make it worse by calling attention to race however; it’s the way in which we call attention to race that needs to be monitored.

This article definitely fits into the nurture side of the debate I agree with the content that you should begin to talk to your child about race.

Jen G said...

1. Vittrup's three methods to test the multicultural home environments of the families in the study included sending one group of families home with strictly multicultural themed videos for a week. Another method was sending another group of families home with multicultural themed videos and asking them to use those videos as an opener into a conversation about interracial friendships. The third and final group of families was asked to just talk to their children about interracial friendships.

2. Because children naturally try to categorize everything, they are developmentally prone to in-group favoritism. They are going to form preferences on their own based upon the attributes which are most clearly visible to them.

3. Vittrup recommends speaking to children about race around the age of three.

4. Depending on how the situation is handled, interracial relationships can actually be improved by calling attention to race. This is because it keeps the children from wondering why there are differences and allowing them to know that it is a subject that they should not be afraid to talk about.

5. This fits with the nurture side because it shows that the way parents act toward racial differences affects their child's views toward race.

Kristy Earley said...

1. Vittrup tested the multicultural home environments of the families in the study by sending a third of the families home with multiculturally themed videos for a week; a third of the families home with the themed videos and a checklist of points to discuss with the children; and the last third with only the checklist of topics to discuss racial equality on their own for just five nights. Five families from the last group quit as soon as they found out they would be openly talking about race. The three groups of children were statistically the same in that none changed much in their racial values. Parents had barely mentioned the checklist items. The six families that did, however, talk openly about race showed that their children dramatically improved in their racial attitudes.

2. It takes remarkably little for children to develop in-group references. Child development researchers say that children naturally try to categorize everything; the attribute they rely on is that which is the most clearly visible. They use whatever you give to them to create divisions, such as shown by Bigler with the T shirts.

3. Bigler recommends that it is important to talk to children about race as early as the age of three.

4.By calling attention to race, as shown in the experiment done by Vittrup, children dramatically improved in their racial attitudes. It is important to talk to children about race, especially during the developmental period when children's minds are forming for their first conclusions about the subject.

5. This article describes how children are nurtured to feel differently about race. The experiments show that by talking openly with children at an early age, the children will have improved racial attitudes. I agree with most of the content; however, i believe that the results should have contained black children's reaction to the same experiments done by Vittrup and Katz.

Lauren Jervis said...

1. Birgitte Vittrip's three methods study was to learn if children's videos with multicultural stories have a positive effect on the racial attitudes of children. She gave the children a racial attitude test, and then set up a third of the families with multicultural themed videos for a week. She sent another third of the families home with the same videos, and then told them to use these videos as a step to start talking about interracial friendship. She provided this family with a checklist of topics to discuss with their children. The last third of the families was sent home with the same checklist, but no videos. The families with just the videos children racial attitudes didn't change much. The other families with the checklist didn't even discuss the questions with their kids because it made them uncomfortable, making the kids' racial attitudes stay the same.

2. Children usually categorize everything, mostly what is visible to them. An example is that they will put a black person with another black person because they believe they belong together.They are usually more prone to have in-group favoritism because that is what they know.

3. Bigler believes that we should start talking to children about race as early as age three.

4. After reading this article, I believe that it is very important to talk to your children about race. I know many parents would rather ignore race than to call attention to it. But if we talk to our kids about different races, we can answer the questions they have and make them more comfortable with different races.

5. This article fits with the nurture side in chapter three because it says that we need to talk to our kids about different races to make them more comfortable. If a child grows up in a racist environment, he/she will most likely have racist feelings at a very young age.

Lindsay P. said...

1.Vittrup's 3 methods to test the multicultural home environments of the 100 families in the study were sending 1/3 of them home with mulitcultural themed videos, 1/3 of them with the videos and a list of discussion topics to be discussed with the child, and the other third with just the discussion topics. This experiment was to last for a week. It turned out that most of the families who were supposed to discuss race with their kids didn't do it because they didn't want to say the wrong thing, but those who did caused their child's racial attitudes to improve in just a week. The children who only watched the videos showed almost no change in their racial attitudes.

2. Researchers say that it takes little for kids to develop in-group preferences. Although kids generally don't segregate in their behavior, they usually think that those in their own group are superior to those in other groups.

3. Bigler's recommended age for talking to children about race is as early as age 3 and before 3rd grade, because by then the developmental window has closed.

4. It is very important to discuss race with your child. No matter how much parents want their child to not notice skin color, children are not "color-blind." Therefore, parents need to explain to their child the reason for different skin color and that the color of your skin doesn't change who you are or who you should be friends with.

5. This article supports the nurture side of the debate because it describes how children naturally form in-group preferences, but by discussing race and equality with your child, you can prevent racism and discrimination. I agree with the content of this article; I believe that it is vital to discuss race with children while they are still young and the developmental window is still open, because children naturally prefer those who look like them unless you intervene.

Lauren J said...

1. Birgitte Vittrup's three methods study was to learn if children's videos with multicultural storylines have any positive effects of a child's racial attitude. The experiment broke families up into three different groups. She then gave all the children a racial assessment test by asking them a number of questions. The first group of families was given multicultural videos to show their children for a week. The second group was given the videos and a checklist of topics to discuss with their kids about different races. The third group was given the checklist also, but received no videos. In the results, Vittrup found that the first group's children's racial attitudes did not change. Also, in the the other two groups, many parents did not follow the checklist because they felt uncomfortable talking to their children about races. This caused their attitudes to also remain the same

2. Children usually don't segregate in their behavior; however, they are usually prone to in-group favoritism. This is shown in the experiment when the children wore two different color shirts. They also tend to categorize everything, and they rely on what is visible to them, like skin color.

3. Rebecca Bigler recommends talking to your children about race as early as when they are 3 years old.

4. After reading this article, I believe it is beneficial to talk to your child about race. They have questions, but are too afraid to ask. If you talk to them while they are young, they will be more comfortable creating friendships with people different than them. They will not categorize or discriminate people who are different than them, if you talk to them about races.

5. This article fits into the nurture side of Chapter 3 because it shows that if you discuss race with your children, they will be more comfortable with different races. Many parents just want to avoid the topic in fear of saying the wrong thing. However, it is essential to their children for them to discuss different cultures and how they shouldn't discriminate. In general, I agree with the content of this article, and I think it is a very important argument.

Steph N said...

1. The three methods that Brigitte Vittrup used in her experiment were: Sending a portion of the families involved in the study home with multi-culturally themed videos, sending another portion home with videos and asking the families to discuss the topic of race with the children as well, and sending a third portion of the families home with only the task of discussing race with their children openly and directly every night.

2. They believe that children do not segregate in accordance to differences, but they do seem to have a preference for those similar to themselves or in "in the same group". For example, for the Red and Blue Shirt experiment, the children did not segregate by color when playing and talking. However, when later asked what color was better/ would win a race, the chose their own color.

3. Her recommended age is as early as 3 years old. The age at which the "window" is close, she says, is third grade.

4. In my opinion, it depends on how the topic is introduced to the child. If race is brought up to a child as a matter that seems difficult to speak about or needs to be dealt with extremely carefully, the child will learn to view race as something that is not to be discussed openly or directly. In short, this may cause bad reactions in the child and may "hurt" the situation. However, if dealt with openly, directly, comfortably, and properly, it can have a positive effect on the child.

5. It fits into the nurture side because it shows us how heavily a family's influence on certain subject can turn out to be. Obviously, children are not born racist, they are taught to be racist, whether it is knowingly or not. I do agree with the content because I believe talking with your children very early on in life is an extremely important and beneficial way to make sure they grow up to have the right values and standards.

Alex H said...

1. First Vittrup gave the families a racial attitude test, and then she gave 1/3 of the families multicultural videos to give their kids watch. Another third she gave the videos and a checklist of discussion topics and told the parents to discuss race with their children. Last she gave the final group just the checklist with the discussion topics. Overall none of the groups were successful and some of the last group dropped out immediately, but a group of six parents who followed the rules did see that their children’s attitudes towards other race had changed and became better.
2. She said that kids are developmentally prone to in-group favoritism; that they're going to form these preferences on their own. Children naturally try to categorize everything, and the attribute they rely on is that which is the most clearly visible. They automatically think the group that they belong to is better than the other group.
3. Rebecca stated that kids around age 3 would be the best to discuss thee topics with.
4. We only make it worse when we associate negative things with certain races and positive things with others. As long as the discussion stress equality and friendship there shouldn’t be any real issues.
5. Well while a child’s racial views aren’t really bias without the right parental environment/guidance their views can be negatively influenced or misguided depending on where they get their information from , but regardless of the connections they make themselves any information they get would be influential in how they think and vice versa. I agree, because just like political views and other things kids usually imitate or learn from their parents the moral code that kind of guides their views in a similar direction so then in it is heavily nurture.

kaitlyn richards said...

1. Birgitte Vittrup’s three methods to test the multicultural home environments of the families were sending a third of the family home with multicultural themed videos for a week, a third with the videos and discussion topics, and a third with the discussion topics. A few of the families had dropped out because they felt uncomfortable and none of the children’s racial attitudes had changed much.

2. Children naturally categorize everything but they generally think that their group is better.

3. The recommended age to talk to children about race is 3 years old.

4. I think it is better to talk to kids about race. If they do then the kids can still differentiate just by knowing but will not act different towards them because they will grow up knowing we are the same and skin color doesn’t matter.

5. It shows that environmental factors influences what kids think and believe. I don’t think racism is inherited through genes; it is drawn from conclusions and lack of understanding. Parents should talk to kids about racism so they know everyone’s equal.