# The malleability of social group understanding in infancy and early childhood

> **NIH NIH R00** · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ · 2023 · $175,216

## Abstract

Project Summary
The human tendency to discriminate emerges early in development: By 3 months of age, infants
prefer looking at same-race faces over different-race faces. However, it is unclear how these
perceptual tendencies translate to later racial prejudice and stereotypes. Previous infancy
research on racial groups has mostly focused on perceptual skills (such as classifying faces of
different races) rather than infants’ cognitive reasoning about and naturalistic behaviors toward
different racial groups that may be more direct precursors of racial biases. Of the few studies that
explore whether infants use race to guide their behaviors, there are conflicting evidences: Some
find that infants show more positive behaviors toward same-race than different-race people,
whereas others find no evidence of race influencing infants’ behaviors. Such discrepancy could
be due to these studies not accounting for infants’ experience with different race individuals.
Exposure to different races clearly impacts infants’ face processing; it is possible early social
experience with racially diverse individuals may also shape infants’ cognitive inferences about
and social behaviors toward people who differ from them in race. The current project will thus fill
a critical gap in our knowledge about how exposure to different races shape infants’ inferences
about and stranger fear toward different-race individuals in the K99 phase (Aims 1 to 2). Aim 1
will examine whether infants have differential expectations about intra- vs. inter-racial interactions
and whether racial diversity in their social networks and neighborhood environments relate to their
expectations about interracial interactions. Aim 2 will utilize large-scale, longitudinal datasets to
analyze whether infants show greater fear to racial outgroup than ingroup strangers, whether
stranger fear is modulated by neighborhood racial demographics, and how this fear may change
across development from infancy to childhood. In the independent R00 phase (Aims 3 to 4), the
candidate will integrate techniques learned from her F32 and K99 phases to examine which type
of exposure to different-race individuals most effectively changes race-based reasoning and
behavior in infancy and childhood. Specifically, the R00 research will examine if interactive
interactions with different-race individuals are more effective than passive exposure in changing
inferences, stranger fear, and neural activities toward racial outgroup individuals in infants (Aim
3) and children (Aim 4). These studies will help elucidate the developmental trajectory of racial
biases. This award will provide the candidate, who has a strong background in experimental
research with children, with training in infancy and longitudinal research techniques to facilitate
her transition to an independent researcher that can lead large-scale, longitudinal research efforts.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10708155
- **Project number:** 5R00HD104989-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SANTA CRUZ
- **Principal Investigator:** Hyesung Grace Hwang
- **Activity code:** R00 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2023
- **Award amount:** $175,216
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2021-04-07 → 2025-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10708155

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10708155, The malleability of social group understanding in infancy and early childhood (5R00HD104989-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10708155. Licensed CC0.

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