How Is Prejudice Formed In Young Minds?

How Is Prejudice Formed In Young Minds?
A file photo of north suburban Highland Park High School in 2014. Wikimedia Commons
How Is Prejudice Formed In Young Minds?
A file photo of north suburban Highland Park High School in 2014. Wikimedia Commons

How Is Prejudice Formed In Young Minds?

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Yearbooks are meant to preserve memories from our younger days. But lately, they’ve been steeped in controversy.

This week, officials at Highland Park High School decided to halt its distribution of yearbooks after students alerted administration to two offensive quotes. One of the quotes in the senior photo section was tied to Nazi leaders.

A few days earlier, Oak Park and River Forest district officials voted to reprint its yearbooks because of photos with students making a hand gesture sometimes associated with white nationalists.

Similar controversies have recently happened in other states, raising the question of how to address racial prejudice among youth and adolescents.

Morning Shift talks to a local social psychologist about what research shows about how prejudice is formed and how to reduce racial bias.

GUEST: Sylvia Perry, assistant professor of psychology at Northwestern University

LEARN MORE: Use of Nazi quote in Highland Park High School yearbook halts its distribution (Chicago Tribune 5/22/19)

Suburban high school will reprint yearbooks after white nationalism controversy (Chicago Sun-Times 5/21/19)