Jessica Spence

By middle childhood, children become aware that discriminatory behavior is unacceptable; however, the development of their anti-prejudice sentiments is largely unknown. Across two studies, 333 Australian 5- to 10-year-olds (51% female, majority White) were asked how acceptable they thought it was to have prejudicial sentiments toward 25 different t...

Standard-accented job candidates are perceived as more hireable than non-standard-accented candidates. Two broad perspectives have emerged as to what drives this effect: (a) that it is a pragmatic response to the perception that non-standard accents can impede job-relevant communication (processing fluency explanation) and/or (b) that non-standard...

There is growing interest in the role of linguistic cues (accents, dialects, language) in driving children’s social preferences. This meta‐analysis integrated 131 effect sizes involving 2,680 infants and children from 2 days old to 11 years. Overall, children prefer native‐accent, native‐dialect, and native‐language speakers over non‐native counter...

From infancy, children display robust preferences for native‐accented and local‐dialect speakers over foreign or nonlocal counterparts. These accent‐ and dialect‐based preferences continue to manifest in children’s friendship choices and intergroup behaviors across childhood, resulting ultimately in prejudice and discrimination in various settings...

Children display explicit social preferences for native-accented and same-race peers, but when these two markers are in conflict, they prefer native-accented other-race peers over foreign-accented same-race peers. However, to what extent do these preferences translate into children’s behavior toward others? This study investigated children’s resour...