Prejudice in infancy

Abstract

This article deals with one of the main causes of social discrimination, prejudices. These arise when kids learn words to define those different groups. That information is normally organized by stereotypes and by the age of 7, they have acquired a wide knowledge of these prejudices. The kids belonging to minority groups share the same negative stereotypes that are attributed to their own group, they devaluate their identity and want to look like the majority group. Kids’ prejudices are very different than adults’ ones due to the fact their prejudices are inflexible so that they can move in this complex issue, they don’t think about the truth of them and they don’t know their social consequences. Finally the authors name a series of problems arisen in classroom that favor the creation of prejudices, and some advices are given of how teachers should behave in this issue.