Influence of Cognitive Development, Self-competency, and Teacher Evaluations on the Development of Children’s Racial Identity

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Levels of cognitive development and perceived self-competencies have been shown to predict attitudes held by children in both minority and majority groups toward own-group members. Teacher appraisals may also influence children’s own-group attitudes by enforcing category-based expectancies and stereotypes about children’s group membership. To test this idea, White and Native Indian children in kindergarten, grades 1 and 2, answered recognition, similarity, and evaluation questions by pointing to pictures of Whites, Natives, and Blacks. Measures of children’s concrete operational thought and self-competency were obtained, as were classroom teacher ratings, of each child’s cognitive ability, peer acceptance, and physical development. Structural equation models indicated that teacher evaluations predicted White children’s, but not Native children’s own-group attitudes. Teacher ratings of Native children’s competencies did not predict minority children’s attitudes about themselves or own-group members. Implications of these findings for teacher expectancy effects and factors influencing teacher’s judgements of majority and minority group children were discussed.