articleJournal of Personality and Social PsychologyFeb 24, 2014Closed access

The essence of innocence: Consequences of dehumanizing Black children.

University of California, Los Angeles · National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder · +2 more institutions

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Abstract

The social category "children" defines a group of individuals who are perceived to be distinct, with essential characteristics including innocence and the need for protection (Haslam, Rothschild, & Ernst, 2000). The present research examined whether Black boys are given the protections of childhood equally to their peers. We tested 3 hypotheses: (a) that Black boys are seen as less "childlike" than their White peers, (b) that the characteristics associated with childhood will be applied less when thinking specifically about Black boys relative to White boys, and (c) that these trends would be exacerbated in contexts where Black males are dehumanized by associating them (implicitly) with apes (Goff, Eberhardt,…

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1,105
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100%
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Authors

5

Topics & keywords

Keywords
  • Dehumanization
  • Innocence
  • Psychology
  • Social psychology
  • White (mutation)
  • Developmental psychology
  • Perception
  • Context (archaeology)
UN Sustainable Development Goals
  • Peace, Justice and strong institutions
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