Malleability of implicit associations across development

Abstract

The prevalence of implicit intergroup bias in adults underscores the importance of knowing when during development such biases are most amenable to change. Although research suggests that implicit intergroup bias undergoes little change across development, no studies have directly examined whether developmental differences exist in the capacity for novel implicit associations to form or change. The present study examined this issue among children ages 5-12. Results from over 800 children provided evidence that novel implicit associations formed quickly, regardless of child age, association type (evaluative or non-evaluative) or the target of the association (social or non-social). Moreover, the magnitude of these changes was comparable across conditions. Coupled with similar findings among adults, these data underscore the importance of first impressions in shaping implicit intergroup bias and provide further evidence that the acquisition of implicit associations is governed by a domain-general mechanism that may be fully in place by age 5.

The Development of Children's Gender‐Science Stereotypes: A Meta‐analysis of 5 Decades of U.S. Draw‐A‐Scientist Studies

“…Given this increased representation of female scientists, children might learn to associate science with both men and women. Exposure to female scientists might also weaken already‐formed associations of science with men (Farland, ; Galdi, Cadinu, & Tomasetto, ; Gonzalez, Dunlop, & Baron, ), especially if students identify with the female role models (Young, Rudman, Buettner, & McLean, ). Consistent with these hypotheses, women's representation among science majors and employed researchers predicted weaker national gender‐science stereotypes across 66 nations in one large study (Miller et al., ).…”

The Origins of Social Categorization

“…Interesting future questions concern how to leverage the insight gained by studies of bias reduction among adults to create manipulations that are effective with children. Indeed, current research suggests that implicit associations are malleable based on new information [97–98], and that similar interventions could be effective for adults and children [92–93]. Indeed, efforts to change the structure of social categorization among children may be even more impactful, since children have less experience, meaning their stereotypes and bias may be less entrenched and easier to overcome.…”

Implicit and Explicit Associations with Erotic Stimuli in Women with and Without Sexual Problems

“…A dual-process framework might thus combine the constructs of conscious cognitive interference (Barlow, 1986), conscious and unconscious information-processing (Janssen et al, 2000), and cognitive processing capacity (de Jong, 2009;van Lankveld, 2010) that were previously proposed as separate determinants of sexual responding and sexual dysfunction. Implicit attitudes have been suggested to develop through different pathways, reflecting both deeply ingrained cultural stereotypes (Nosek et al, 2009;Steffens & Buchner, 2003) and the result of learning experiences in individual personal history (Gonzalez, Dunlop, & Baron, 2017), as a result of frequent pairings of stimuli with the same emotional state (Gawronski & Bodenhausen, 2006). Adding implicit cognitive mechanisms to psychological models featuring explicit and conscious cognition, has been shown to increase their explanatory power in other fields, including affective disorders, alcohol-related disorder, and eating disorder (see Roefs et al, 2011, for a review).…”