Automatic Encoding Across Social Categories in American Children and Adults

Many caregivers wonder when to talk to children about social inequality and racism, often expressing the belief that children do not pay attention to race or inequity. Here, across 5-9-year-old American children (n = 159, Mage = 7.44; 51.6% female, 47.2% male, 1.2% nonconforming or not provided; 59.1% White, 23.3% racial-ethnic minority, 17.6% not provided) and adults (n = 182, 84.1% female, 13.7% male, 2.2% nonconforming or not provided, 54.9% White, 44.5% racial-ethnic minority, 0.60% not provided), the data show that even 5-year-olds automatically encoded (i.e., spontaneously noticed and remembered) information about race, occupational status, and gender. Although children and adults encoded gender and occupational status at similar levels, adults encoded race at significantly higher levels than children. Additionally, occupational status encoding in children was sensitive to relevant environmental input (i.e., children in less affluent communities were more likely to encode occupational status) suggesting that children become "tuned in" and motivated to notice relevant, salient aspects of their environment. Given the early emergence of gender, race, and occupational status encoding, caregivers should assume that children do notice racial, occupational, or gender inequities in their environments and feel confident in the decision to begin discussing the systemic roots of inequity with children from a young age.