Babies' Expectations About Racial Interactions

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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This study will examine whether infants view race as an inductively useful social cue to predict third-party social relationships.

Detailed Description
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Based on findings that infants expect more affiliation between same language speakers than different language speakers (i.e., infants will look longer at affiliation between different language speakers than same language speakers), this study will assess whether infants' expectations about intra- and inter-racial interactions will also follow the same pattern as language. After informed consent, participants who meet the eligibility requirements will be randomized into one of the 3 conditions: Watching (1) two White adults affiliating and disengaging, (2) two Black adults affiliating and disengaging, and (3) one White and one Black adults affiliating and disengaging.

Official Title
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Babies' Expectations About Racial Interactions

Conditions
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Infant Behavior

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: Basic Science


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: full term (at least 37 weeks at birth) no known developmental delays Exclusion Criteria: not full term (less than 37 weeks at birth) known developmental delays

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 8 Months
Maximum Age: 14 Months

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Design Details

Primary Purpose: Basic Science
Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Quadruple


Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Experimental: White-White<br>Infants will first view 4 familiarization trials, in which the two adults each take turns waving and saying a short sentence. Each trial will last 10.5s. Which adult speaks first and which side she appears on will be counterbalanced. These familiarization trials will ensure infants encode each person separately. Then infants will watch 6 test trials (3 affiliation and 3 disengagement). The test trials will alternate, and the order will be counterbalanced across infants. In affiliation trials, the two adults will say hello and wave, whereas in the disengagement trials, the two adults will say hmph, and turn away from each other. Both affiliation and disengagement will have the same length (3s), with actors maintaining the same distance from each other throughout the video. The procedure will be identical for all arms except in White-White arm, the two adults infants see will be two White adults. | Other: Basic Science<br>* This is a basic science experiment to test whether infants' looking time to video stimuli differ according to the race of the individuals shown.<br>|
| Experimental: Black-Black<br>The procedure is identical to the White-White arm except the two adults infants see will be two Black adults. | Other: Basic Science<br>* This is a basic science experiment to test whether infants' looking time to video stimuli differ according to the race of the individuals shown.<br>|
| Experimental: Black-White<br>The procedure is identical to the White-White arm except the two adults infants see will be one White and one Black adult. | Other: Basic Science<br>* This is a basic science experiment to test whether infants' looking time to video stimuli differ according to the race of the individuals shown.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Participants' average time spent looking at stimuli according to condition | Infants' looking time to the stimuli will be measured by two coders blind to the condition that infants were assigned to. | After the infants complete the study (which will take about 10 minutes), two coders will view the video recording of the session to measure infants' looking at the stimuli. Coding is anticipated to be finished within 1 year of study data collection. |