What Was the Doll Test

In the 1940s, psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark designed and conducted a series of experiments known colloquially as “the doll tests” to study the psychological effects of segregation on African-American

What was the result of the doll test?

The results of the test showed that the majority of black children preferred the white dolls to the black dolls, the children saying the black dolls were “bad” and that the white dolls looked most like them.

What is the black doll test?

The Clarks sought to challenge that mindset by testing whether African-American children were psychologically and emotionally damaged by attending segregated schools. Known as “doll tests,” black children were placed in a room with two dolls before them — one black and one white.