Kenneth and Mamie Clark
Four baby dolls in the U.S. Supreme Court
Intro
Kenneth Bancroft Clark and Mamie Phipps Clark were a married team of American psychologists who were active in the Civil Rights movement and are most known together for their research on black children.1 The Clarks were the first African Americans to obtain PhDs in psychology from Columbia University. This launched their research on internalized research and the effects of segregation. Most notably, the Clarks conducted the “doll test”, studying children’s preferences for black versus white dolls.1 Their scientific expertise combined with their passion for research on black children allowed them to testify as expert witnesses under the U.S. Supreme Court, in several school desegregation cases. Their work contributed significantly to both the field of psychology and the social fabric of their time, moving toward equal education for black children.
The discrepancy between identifying one’s own color and indicating one’s color preference is too great to be ignored. The negation of the color, brown, exists in the same complexity of attitudes in which there also exists knowledge of the fact that the child himself must be identified with that which he rejects.
- Kenneth and Mamie Clark
About the Authors
Dan Pilat
Dan is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. Dan has a background in organizational decision making, with a BComm in Decision & Information Systems from McGill University. He has worked on enterprise-level behavioral architecture at TD Securities and BMO Capital Markets, where he advised management on the implementation of systems processing billions of dollars per week. Driven by an appetite for the latest in technology, Dan created a course on business intelligence and lectured at McGill University, and has applied behavioral science to topics such as augmented and virtual reality.
Dr. Sekoul Krastev
Sekoul is a Co-Founder and Managing Director at The Decision Lab. He is a bestselling author of Intention - a book he wrote with Wiley on the mindful application of behavioral science in organizations. A decision scientist with a PhD in Decision Neuroscience from McGill University, Sekoul's work has been featured in peer-reviewed journals and has been presented at conferences around the world. Sekoul previously advised management on innovation and engagement strategy at The Boston Consulting Group as well as on online media strategy at Google. He has a deep interest in the applications of behavioral science to new technology and has published on these topics in places such as the Huffington Post and Strategy & Business.
