Finding #2: Some mindsets are stronger than others.

Individualistic thinking about the early years remains dominant, yet people are also able to think collectively. While people continue to rely on Individualism and Family Bubble mindsets to think about the early years, there are openings and opportunities to activate more collective understandings, such as the It Takes a Village mindset. Similarly, while interpersonal relationships remain the dominant way people think about racism—including in early childhood—more structural understandings of racism—that our public policies, norms and institutions reproduce racial disparities—are also available. Framing can help expand people’s understanding of systemic disparities and build support for addressing these inequities.

Harmful mindsets are clearly present but not as strong as other mindsets. Racism is in the Past, Fatalism and Otherism are less strongly endorsed than other mindsets, yet they remain part of how people make sense of the early years and can be readily activated by cues in communication. Even subtle messages that evoke fatalism, othering or racist assumptions can bring them to the forefront. Communicators need to be careful when framing to avoid activating these mindsets.

The mindsets below include average agreement scores. These are scores on a 100-point scale. Zero indicates the strongest possible level of disagreement, 50 indicates the midpoint of the scale (‘neither agree nor disagree’), and 100 indicates the highest level of agreement. These numbers represent the average level of agreement with each mindset, not the percentage of participants who agreed with statements.