WHITE SUPERIORITY COMPLEX HARDWIRED FROM CHILDHOOD

In the 1940s, psychologists Kenneth Bancroft Clark and Mamie Phipps Clark conducted the Doll Test, a landmark study to assess the psychological impact of segregation on Black children. The groundbreaking study became the first piece of psychological research referenced by the Supreme Court, influencing its decision to abolish school segregation. In the study, Black children aged three to seven were presented with four identical plastic dolls, differing only in colour. They were asked questions to gauge their racial perceptions and preferences. Most of the children favoured the White doll, associating it with positive traits, while they viewed the Black doll negatively.

In this clip, we fast-forward to more recent times - and see White school children in the US being given a very similar test. They’re asked to identify which of a range of cartoon characters with various skin colours satisfies given traits. Without fail, good attributes get assigned to the light-skinned ones, and bad qualities - to the dark-skinned ones.

But this isn’t an innate human tendency, it is the product of centuries of racial hierarchy entrenched through Western education, media and social conditioning. The biases persist globally, shaping perceptions in Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America, where colonial histories and Western cultural dominance continue to elevate whiteness. More critically, the test confirms the idea that a White-superiority complex is built into young minds by the education - or rather, the indoctrination - that they receive from an early age.

How does this clip make you feel?

Sources

https://kennethclark.commons.gc.cuny.edu/the-doll-study/