4 Developing Implicit Social Cognition in Early Childhood Methods, Phenomena, Prospects Why Study Children's Implicit Understanding?

Social cognition concerns young children's knowledge of themselves, other people and the groups to which they belong. This type of knowledge can operate at a conscious and deliberate level (explicit knowledge) and also at an unconscious and nonverbal level (implicit knowledge) . Implicit social cognition can exert a powerful influence on children's behavior. Social psychologists have studied implicit social cognition in adults, but implicit cognition has only recently become a focus of study in children. Implicit measures permit assessment of spontaneous aspects of children's thinking which may not always be captured accurately by conventional verbal reports. Children may not be able to verbalize or explain what they know or feel. They may also distort their true beliefS or attitudes to experimenters based on 'social desirability' of what they think the adult wants to hear. In such cases, measures of implicit social cognition can provide a valuable, even unique, window into children's thinking. This chapter describes the newly emerging field of implicit social cognition from preschool through elementary school. A special emphasis is placed on discoveries concerning young children's thinking and understanding of themselves and their social groups in the domains of gender and race.