Who Is The Clark Doll Test?

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Recommended: The effects of racism

he True Consequences of Racism
We learn to be racist, therefore we can learn not to be racist. Racism is not genetical. It has everything to do with power.
-- Jane Elliot

Various children of different races were brought into the room, one at time, at the table there was only two dolls one black and one white. The children were asked various questions about the dolls. Most strikingly one of the little African American girls when asked which doll she was after having tied bad attributes towards it, pointed to the black doll. Each African American through this simple act showed society how racial discrimination had truly affected them. In 1940 Kenneth and Mamie clark conducted an experiment that today is better known as the Clark doll test. As a society when we think of racism, we tend to associate it with the past, he time when Martin Luther King, and Rosa Parks took steps toward changing society for the equality of African Americans. But what we do not realize that racism is still present, more importantly we fail to see how children are affected early on, that children know the implications that are tied to difference in skin color, at a very young. In this essay I will explore how children of various ethnic groups are affected psychologically by racism and how the effects of racism will impact them psychologically now and in the future. I will look at the information through the perspective of various authors who have performed various studied and/ or critically analyzed the studied performed by other authors and dive deeper into the factors that have an effect on the development of African American Children.

The Clark doll test is a historically known study performed in the 1940s that showed how racism and racial implica...

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...factors in Racial Identification in and Preference in Negro Children. The Journal of Negro Education 1950. Text. 9 May, 2015.
Chao, Ruth Chu-Lien Longo, Joseph Wang, Canzi Dasgupta, Deepest Fear, Jessica. "Perceived Racism As Moderator Between Self-Esteem/Shyness And Psychological Distress Among African Americans." Journal Of Counseling & Development 92.3 (2014): 259-269. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection. Web. 15 May 2015.
Hopsin, Derek. Hopsin, Darlene. Implications of Doll color Preferences Among Back Preschool Children, and White Preschool Children. Text. 9 May, 2015.
Kang, Hye-Kyung, and David L. Burton. "Effects Of Racial Discrimination, Childhood Trauma, And Trauma Symptoms On Juvenile Delinquency In African American Incarcerated Youth." Journal Of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma 23.10 (2014): 1109-1125.Academic Search Premier. Web. 13 May 2015.

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