Three Developmental Phases of Attitudes About Cultural Groups

The ways children learn and develop  will affect how they process the messages they receive from their families, friends and community. Therefore, the people in a child's microsystem play a role in shaping their attitudes and beliefs. Piaget's second stage of development is the pre-operational stage which begins around two and continues until age seven. During the pre-operational stage children begin to develop their own  attitudes and beliefs about the world around them. The influences of their attitudes and beliefs are family, friends, mass media and school. All of these groups play a role in the development of a child's attitudes and beliefs.

Attitudes about cultural groups develops in three phases. The first phase is from age two and a half to three years old. This is when children become aware of cultural differences. Phase two starts around age four and this is when children begin to notice the ways they're similar to others and have specific cultural related words and concepts. For example, this is when children notice that they may be white but someone in their preschool class is a different color. This is when children start to use words such as black, white, Christian or Catholic to explain the difference in color or skin or religion.

Phase three begins around age seven when children begin to have attitudes toward various cultural groups. For example, a child may play with a child who is black but not Indian or may play with children who are white but not mixed. The development of attitudes is influenced by a child's age, cognitive development and social experiences. The last stage is important in discussing attitudes and belief development because it's during the middle school years that this phase occurs. During the third stage children become familiar with the various ways people within their family interact with others in the community and begin to notice things like discrimination, violence, and prejudice.