As noted previously, stereotyping and prejudice continue to be prevalent among children and adolescents (e.g., Aboud, 1988; Aboud & Levy, 2000; Bar-Tal, 1996; Bigler & Liben, 1993; Katz, 1976). Because stereotyping and prejudice create barriers to the learning, development, and future outcomes of children, i nterventions to reduce social stereotyping and prejudice are needed.
 One focus of our work has been to study the mechanisms that underlie racial and gender attitude change. In a recent study, we examined two key issues in racial attitude interventions. The first issue concerns whether intervention materials should labeled and organized by race (as in "Black History Month") or ignored (as in "color blind" approaches). The second issue concerns whether interventions should explicit teach children about racism. To test these ideas, we gave European American children (ages 5 to 11) history lessons about famous African and European Americans that made (1) no reference to the race of the individuals (race-blind), (2) explicit reference to the race of the individuals (race-based), or (3) explicit reference to race and the racism experienced by each African American figure (racism). Lessons about racism produced significantly more positive and less negative attitudes toward African Americans than the race-based lessons.
Above, right: Jackie Robinson was a famous baseball player whose career suffered because of racism. Teaching European American children about this racism caused their attitudes about African Americans to become more positive.
Related Publication:
Milligan, J. K., Bigler, R. S., & Levy, S. R. (2005). Presenting Jackie Robinson: Effects
of talk about race and racism on European American children. Manuscript submitted for publication.
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