Babies' Expectations About Racial Interactions

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

Completed

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Key information

Conditions

Infant Behavior Behavior Child Behavior

Age range

8 month–14 month

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Infant Learning and Development Laboratory at University of Chicago

Chicago, Illinois, 60637, United States

About this study

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.

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: Yes

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

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

Treatment and study plan

Basic Science

Other

This is a basic science experiment to test whether infants' looking time to video stimuli differ according to the race of the individuals shown.

Primary outcomes

Participants' Average Time Spent Looking at Stimuli According to Condition

Time frame: After the infants completed the study (which lasted about 10 minutes), two coders viewed the video recording of the session to measure infants' looking at the affiliation and disengagement stimuli.

Infants' looking time to affiliation vs. disengagement stimuli was measured by two coders blind to the condition that infants were assigned to. Then, the values from each coders were compared and if there was disagreement, after discussion one value was selected. Thus, the reported outcome is the single value that both coders produced or agreed upon values from the two coders.

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

University of Chicago

Other

Registry information

Acronym: BEARI

Important dates

Study start: 2021
Primary completion: 2022
Study completion: 2022
First posted: Apr 12, 2022
Registry last updated: Apr 24, 2024

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

Published trials that share one or more normalized conditions with this study.

Completed