• Korean Journal of Childcare and Education
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.85-103
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• 2022

Objective: This study examined five- to six-year-old children's categorization of mixed-race faces and how it was affected by perceptual individuation training (PIT) for other-races. Methods: Sixty-five children attending classes for 5-year-olds in childcare centers were shown happy and angry faces of Korean and African American mixed-race people, along with neutral faces of Korean and African American monoracial people. They were asked to categorize the faces into same-race or other-race. After the pretest, participants received a PIT for either African American (other-race) or monkeys. Then the racial categorization task was administered again as a posttest. Results: Children showed no general tendency to categorize mixed-race faces as out-group in the pretest. Yet, the PITs further reduced children's categorization of mixed-race faces as out-group. In particular, the effect was clearly evident in children who received the PIT for other-race. Conclusion/Implications: The results suggest that the tendency to categorize mixed-race faces as an out-group may not be evident in early childhood and that experiences of perceptually identifying other-race individuals may help children view mixed-race individuals as being in the ingroup, at least perceptually.