How barriers become invisible: Children are less sensitive to constraints that are stable over time.

When making inferences about the mental lives of others (e.g., others' preferences), it is critical to consider the extent to which the choices we observe are constrained. Prior research on the development of this tendency indicates a contradictory pattern: Children show remarkable sensitivity to constraints in traditional experimental paradigms, yet often fail to consider real-world constraints and privilege inherent causes instead. We propose that one explanation for this discrepancy may be that real-world constraints are often stable over time and lose their salience. The present research tested whether children (N = 133, 5- to 12-year-old mostly US children; 55% female, 45% male) become less sensitive to an actor's constraints after first observing two constrained actors (Stable condition) versus after first observing two actors in contexts with greater choice (Not Stable condition). We crossed the stability of the constraint with the type of constraint: either the constraint was deterministic such that there was only one option available (No Other Option constraint) or, in line with many real-world constraints, the constraint was probabilistic such that there was another option, but it was difficult to access (Hard to Access constraint). Results indicated that children in the Stable condition became less sensitive to the probabilistic Hard to Access constraint across trials. Notably, we also found that children's sensitivity to constraints was enhanced in the Not Stable condition regardless of whether the constraint was probabilistic or deterministic. We discuss implications for children's sensitivity to real-world constraints. RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS: This research addresses the apparent contradiction that children are sensitive to constraints in experimental paradigms but are often insensitive to constraints in the real world. One explanation for this discrepancy is that constraints in the real world tend to be stable over time and may lose their salience. When probabilistic constraints (i.e., when a second option is available but hard to access) are stable, children become de-sensitized to constraints across trials. First observing contexts with greater choice increases children's sensitivity to both probabilistic and deterministic constraints.

Calculated Comparisons: Manufacturing Societal Causal Judgments by Implying Different Counterfactual Outcomes.

How do people come to opposite causal judgments about societal problems, such as whether a public health policy reduced COVID-19 cases? The current research tests an understudied cognitive mechanism in which people may agree about what actually happened (e.g., that a public health policy was implemented and COVID-19 cases declined), but can be made to disagree about the counterfactual, or what would have happened otherwise (e.g., whether COVID-19 cases would have declined naturally without intervention) via comparison cases. Across two preregistered studies (total N = 480), participants reasoned about the implementation of a public policy that was followed by an immediate decline in novel virus cases. Study 1 shows that people's judgments about the causal impact of the policy could be pushed in opposite directions by emphasizing comparison cases that imply different counterfactual outcomes. Study 2 finds that people recognize they can use such information to influence others. Specifically, in service of persuading others to support or reject a public health policy, people systematically showed comparison cases implying the counterfactual outcome that aligned with their position. These findings were robust across samples of U.S. college students and politically and socioeconomically diverse U.S. adults. Together, these studies suggest that implied counterfactuals are a powerful tool that individuals can use to manufacture others' causal judgments and warrant further investigation as a mechanism contributing to belief polarization.

Humane genomics education can reduce racism.

Moving instruction "beyond Mendel" can counter inaccurate, essentialist views.

Why are there no girls? Increasing children's recognition of structural causes of the gender gap in STEM.

The gender disparity in STEM fields emerges early in development. This research examined children's explanations for this gap and investigated two approaches to enhance children's structural understanding that this imbalance is caused by societal, systematic barriers. Five- to 8-year-old children (N = 145) observed girls' underrepresentation in a STEM competition; the No Structural Information condition presented no additional information, the Structural: Between-Group Comparison (Between) condition compared boys' greater representation to girls' when boys had more opportunities to practice than girls, and the Structural: Within-Group Comparison (Within) condition compared girls' greater STEM representation when they had opportunities versus not. Children in the No Structural condition largely generated intrinsic explanations; in contrast, children in both structural conditions favored structural explanations for girls' lack of participation (Experiment 1) and achievement (Experiment 2). Importantly, each structural condition also had unique effects: Between raised children's fairness concerns, while Within increased children's selection of girls as teammates in a competitive STEM activity.

Children can represent complex social status hierarchies: Evidence from Indonesia.

Children's ethnicity-status associations are often studied in societies where one ethnic group possesses status across multiple dimensions, such as political influence and wealth. This study examined children's (6-12 years) and adults' representations of more complex hierarchies in Indonesia (N = 341; 38% Native Indonesian, 33% Chinese Indonesian, and 27% other ethnicities; 55% female, 36% male; 2021-2022), a society where ethnic groups hold distinct forms of status (on average, Native Indonesians have political influence; Chinese Indonesians have wealth). By 6.5 years, children associated Native Indonesians with political influence and Chinese Indonesians with wealth. Intersectional analyses indicated that ethnicity-status associations were stronger for male than female targets. Children of all ethnicities preferred Chinese Indonesians and preferences were predicted by wealth judgments.

Emphasizing others' persistence can promote unwarranted social inferences in children and adults.

People often hear stories about individuals who persist to overcome their constraints. While these stories can be motivating, emphasizing others' persistence may promote unwarranted judgments about constrained individuals who do not persist. Using a developmental social inference task (Study 1a: n = 124 U.S. children, 5-12 years of age; Study 1b: n = 135 and Study 2: n = 120 U.S. adults), the present research tested whether persistence stories lead people to infer that a constrained individual who does not persist, and instead accepts the lower-quality option that is available to them, prefers it over a higher-quality option that is out of reach. Study 1 found evidence for this effect in children (1a) and adults (1b). Even persistence stories about failed outcomes, which emphasize how difficult it would have been to get the higher-quality option, had this effect. Study 2 found that the effect generalized to adults' judgments about an individual facing a different type of constraint from those mentioned in the initial stories. Taken together, emphasizing others' persistence may encourage unwarranted judgments about individuals who are still constrained to lower-quality options. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Thinking Structurally: A Cognitive Framework for Understanding How People Attribute Inequality to Structural Causes.

To make accurate causal inferences about social-group inequalities, people must consider structural causes. Structural causes are a distinct type of extrinsic cause-they are stable, interconnected societal forces that systematically advantage some social groups and disadvantage others. We propose a new cognitive framework to specify how people attribute inequality to structural causes. This framework is rooted in counterfactual theories of causal judgment and suggests that people will recognize structural factors as causal when they are perceived as "difference-making" for inequality above and beyond any intrinsic causes. Building on this foundation, our framework makes the following contributions. First, we propose specific types of evidence that support difference-making inferences about structural factors: within-group change (i.e., observing that disadvantaged groups' outcomes improve under better societal conditions) and well-matched between-group comparisons (i.e., observing that advantaged group members, who have similar baseline traits to the disadvantaged group, experience more favorable societal conditions and life outcomes). Second, we consider contextual, cognitive, and motivational barriers that may complicate the availability and acceptance of this evidence. We conclude by exploring how the framework might be applied in future research examining people's causal inferences about inequality.

Overheard evaluative comments: Implications for beliefs about effort and ability.

This research examined the effects of overhearing an adult praise an unseen child for not needing to work hard on an academic task. Five-year-old Han Chinese children (total N = 270 across three studies; 135 boys, collected 2020-2021) who heard this low effort praise tended to devalue effort relative to a baseline condition in which the overheard conversation lacked evaluative content. In Study 3, low effort praise increased children's endorsement of essentialist beliefs about ability and their interest in becoming the kind of person who does not need to work hard to succeed. The findings show that overhearing evaluative comments about other people, a pervasive feature of daily life, can have a systematic effect on young children's beliefs about achievement.

Young children form generalized attitudes based on a single encounter with an outgroup member.

The goal of the present research was to assess whether children's first interaction with a single outgroup member can significantly impact their general attitudes toward the outgroup as a whole. In two preregistered studies, 5- to 6-year-old Chinese children (total N = 147) encountered a Black adult from another country for the very first time, and they played a game together. General attitudes toward the outgroup were assessed using both implicit and explicit measures. In both studies, the interaction resulted in less negative explicit attitudes toward Black people, but more negative implicit attitudes. The results demonstrate for the first time that one encounter with a single outgroup member can impact children's general attitudes toward that group, and that it can have differential effects on implicit and explicit attitudes.

Children acknowledge physical constraints less when actors behave stereotypically: Gender stereotypes as a case study.

A fundamental part of understanding structural inequality is recognizing that constrained choices, particularly those that align with societal stereotypes, are poor indicators of a person's desires. This study examined whether children (N = 246 U.S. children, 53% female; 61% White, 24% Latinx; 5-10 years) acknowledge constraints in this way when reasoning about gender-stereotypical choices, relative to gender-neutral and gender-counterstereotypical choices. Results indicated that children more frequently inferred preferences regardless of whether the actor was constrained when reasoning about gender-stereotypical choices, as compared to gender-neutral or gender-counterstereotypical choices. We also found evidence of an age-related increase in the general tendency to acknowledge constraints. We discuss the broader implications of these results for children's understanding of constraints within society.

Children's reputation management: Learning to identify what is socially valued and acting upon it.

Much of what people do is motivated by a concern with social evaluation. We argue that the process of figuring out what others value and making effective use of this information presents significant cognitive challenges. These challenges include reasoning about the relevance of different forms of information and making inferences about the mental lives of others. They also include modifying one's behavior in light of whatever personal qualities appear to be valued in an effort to appeal to different audiences. We argue that the foundations of many of the important skills needed to meet these challenges are already in place early during childhood, but that the challenges themselves persist well into adulthood.

Perceptions of police legitimacy and bias from ages 13 to 22 among Black, Latino, and White justice-involved males.

OBJECTIVE: Although researchers, policymakers, and practitioners recognize the importance of the public's perceptions of police, few studies have examined developmental trends in adolescents and young adults' views of police. HYPOTHESES: Hypothesis 1: Perceptions of police legitimacy would exhibit a U-shaped curve, declining in adolescence before improving in young adulthood. Hypothesis 2: At all ages, Black youth would report more negative perceptions of police legitimacy than Latino youth, who would report more negative perceptions than White youth. Hypothesis 3: Perceptions of police bias would be consistently associated with worse perceptions of police legitimacy. METHOD: Utilizing longitudinal data from the Crossroads Study, this study examined within-person trends in males' perceptions of police legitimacy from ages 13 to 22, as well as whether perceptions of police bias were associated with perceptions of police legitimacy. RESULTS: Perceptions of police legitimacy followed a U-shaped curve that declined during adolescence, reached its lowest point around age 18, and improved during the transition to young adulthood. Compared with White youth, Latino and Black youth had shallower curves in perceptions of police legitimacy that exhibited less improvement during the transition to adulthood. Further, perceptions of police bias were consistently associated with more negative perceptions of police legitimacy across races and ages. CONCLUSIONS: While perceptions of police legitimacy may decline during adolescence before improving during the transition to adulthood, perceptions of police bias are consistently negatively related to youth and young adults' perceptions of police legitimacy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Children's Developing Ability to Resolve Disagreements by Integrating Perspectives.

Children live in a world where disagreement is commonplace. Although disagreement can sometimes be explained by differences in people's reliability, disagreement may also indicate that the referent elicits multiple perspectives. The present studies (total N = 129, 5- to 12-year-old ethnically diverse U.S. children, 42% girls) examined children's ability to resolve disagreement among two individuals by identifying referents that integrated the perspectives, and considered the extent to which any age-related change could be explained by epistemological understanding (i.e., acknowledging that two perspectives can be right). Children's age was positively correlated with their ability to integrate perspectives, and children performed at above-chance levels by approximately 10 years of age. Age differences in integrating perspectives were partially accounted for by epistemological understanding.

Minor infractions are not minor: School infractions for minor misconduct may increase adolescents' defiant behavior and contribute to racial disparities in school discipline.

Although minor misconduct is normative in adolescence, such behavior may be met with punishment in American schools. As part of a punitive disciplinary approach, teachers may give adolescents official infractions for minor misconduct-that is, a minor infraction-presumably to deter future problem behavior. This article investigates three arguments that challenge the wisdom of this assumption and considers the potentially detrimental effects of minor infractions: (a) minor infractions increase, rather than deter, adolescents' defiant behavior; (b) these effects are exacerbated among adolescents who are highly attached to school; and (c) teachers' punishment of minor misconduct may be racially biased, resulting in African American students receiving more minor infractions than White students. To test these hypotheses, 729 adolescents' school disciplinary records were analyzed over 1 academic year. Longitudinal multilevel analyses were conducted to assess (a) if receiving minor infractions predicted later increases in infractions for defiant behavior at the within-student level, (b) whether adolescents' attachment to school moderated this association, and (c) if a disparity existed between African American and White students' average level of minor infractions. Results indicated that minor infractions predicted subsequent rises in defiant behavior, and this link was exacerbated for adolescents who reported initially high levels, but not low levels, of school attachment. Furthermore, African American students received more minor infractions than White students, controlling for a host of risk factors for school misconduct. Findings are discussed in relation to American school discipline policies and African Americans' persistent overrepresentation in school discipline and the criminal justice system. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Trust and Discipline: Adolescents' Institutional and Teacher Trust Predict Classroom Behavioral Engagement following Teacher Discipline.

This daily diary study examined how adolescents' institutional and teacher-specific trust predicted classroom behavioral engagement the day after being disciplined by that teacher. Within mathematics classrooms, adolescents (N = 190; Mage  = 14 years) reported institutional and teacher-specific trust and then completed a 15-day diary assessing teacher discipline and behavioral engagement. The results indicated that, among adolescents with low teacher trust, discipline was unrelated to next-day behavior. Contrastingly, adolescents with high teacher but low institutional trust became less engaged following discipline, whereas those with high teacher and institutional trust became more engaged. These findings suggest that adolescents interpret discipline within the social context of trust, and adolescents' trust in the institution and teacher are important for discipline to improve behavior.

Older Siblings as Academic Socialization Agents for Younger Siblings: Developmental Pathways across Adolescence.

The role of older siblings in younger siblings' academic socialization becomes increasingly salient during adolescence. This longitudinal study examines the developmental mechanisms through which older siblings shape younger siblings' academic outcomes and whether older siblings' peer affiliations predict younger siblings' educational aspirations and attainment. Data consisted of responses from 395 target adolescents (Mage = 12.22 years, 48.9% female; 51.6% African American, 38.5% European American) and their older siblings (Mage = 14.65 years, 50.1% female) across nine years. The findings showed that older siblings' affiliation with academically disengaged peers at 7th grade predicted younger siblings' decreased affiliation with academically engaged peers and increased affiliation with disengaged peers at 9th grade. In addition, younger siblings' affiliation with academically engaged peers predicted greater educational aspirations at 11th grade, which in turn were related to higher postsecondary educational attainment. The identification of developmental processes through which older siblings were associated with younger siblings' academic success may aid in creating supportive social environments in which adolescents can thrive.

Persistence Mindset among Adolescents: Who Benefits from the Message that Academic Struggles are Normal and Temporary?

Research proposing that mindset interventions promote student achievement has been conducted at a frenetic pace nationwide in the United States, with many studies yielding mixed results. The present study explores the hypothesis that mindset interventions are beneficial for students only under specific circumstances. Using a randomized controlled trial with student-level random assignment within two public schools (School 1: n = 198 seventh-graders, 73% Black, 27% White, 53% male; School 2: n = 400 ninth-graders, 98% White, 2% Black, 52% male), this trial conceptually integrated elements from three evidence-based mindset interventions. It then examined two theoretically driven moderators of student performance following the transition to middle or high school: students' racial backgrounds and students' educational expectations. Results indicated that the intervention was effective for a particular subset of students-Black students with high educational expectations-resulting in higher grades over the course of the year. Among students with low educational expectations (regardless of race), the intervention did not impact grades. For White students with high educational expectations, the control activities actually benefitted grades more than the mindset intervention. Both theoretical and practical implications for mindset research are discussed.

African American adolescents' gender and perceived school climate moderate how academic coping relates to achievement.

Using stereotype threat and motivational resilience theories as the guiding frameworks, this study examined how African American adolescents' academic coping strategies (i.e., problem solving, help seeking, self-encouragement, comfort seeking, and commitment) were associated with academic achievement, and whether these associations varied by adolescents' gender and perceptions of school climate (i.e., school mastery goal structure and support for cultural pluralism). Data were collected from 274 African American seventh graders (Mage = 12.84 years; 55% female; 91% low-income). Results suggested that associations between academic coping and achievement depended on adolescents' gender and school climate perceptions. Problem solving was associated with higher achievement for males only. Comfort seeking was associated with lower achievement among females and for adolescents who perceived their schools to be less mastery-oriented. Commitment related to lower achievement among males who perceived less supportive school climates. Importantly, self-encouragement was associated with higher achievement among males who perceived greater school support for cultural pluralism. Replication analyses with White adolescents from the same schools indicated that these findings were unique to African American adolescents.

Defining and achieving permanency among older youth in foster care.

Permanency is a key child welfare system goal for the children they serve. This study addresses three key research questions: (1) How do older youth in foster care define their personal permanency goals? (2) How much progress have these youth made in achieving their personal permanency goals and other aspects of relational permanency, and how does this vary by gender, race, and age? and (3) What transition-related outcomes are associated with relational permanency achievement? Surveys were conducted with 97 youth between the ages of 14 and 20 currently in care. Over three-fourths of participants had an informal/relational permanency goal; however, only 6.7% had achieved their goal. Of eight additional conceptualizations of relational permanency assessed, the one associated with achievement of the highest number of key transition outcomes was Sense of Family Belonging. The transition outcomes with the most associations with permanency achievement were physical health and mental health. Relational permanency is a highly personal part of the transition process for youth in care, warranting personalized supports to ensure individual youths' goals are being addressed in transition planning. Permanency achievement may also provide a foundation for supporting youth in achieving other key transition outcomes.

Adolescent Offenders' Qualitative Reflections on Desistance From Crime.

Although many young offenders desist from crime during adolescence, little is known about this process. This study used a qualitative approach to elucidate adolescent offenders' experiences in desisting from crime. Thirty-nine male adolescent offenders (Mage  = 16.59 years) participated in a semistructured interview about the desistance process. One of four themes characterized adolescents' reflections on their own desistance: having a psychological reorientation, reacting to consequences, persisting, or being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Adolescents discussed five agentic moves they make to facilitate desistance: seeking and maintaining supportive relationships, navigating peer groups, working toward long-term goals, structuring time, and finding sanctuaries from the outside. These findings highlight adolescents' strengths, resources, and active role in desisting from crime.