Would You Accent My Friendship?

The March 2010 issue of Scientific American included an article about a Harvard University study that looked at how children select friends when given a racially and linguistically diverse set of candidates.

The study found that when a group of white five-year-olds were shown pictures and voice recordings of potential friends they "preferred a black child speaking with a native accent over a white child who spoke English with a foreign accent."

While developmental psychologist Katherine D. Kinzler from Harvard explains that "preference for our own race might have developed later, after the more ancient preference for our own accent" the findings from the study are still presented as somewhat of a surprise.

I am not surprised one bit. After all, the key to any successful relationship is communication.