Adam Rutland

A New Social-Cognitive Developmental Perspective on Prejudice: The Interplay Between Morality and Group Identity

We argue that prejudice should be investigated in the context of social-cognitive development and the interplay between morality and group identity. Our new perspective examines how children consider group identity (and group norms) along with their developing moral beliefs about fairness and justice. This is achieved by developing an integrated framework drawing on developmental and social psychological theories of prejudice. This synthesis results in a perspective that provides a more contextualized analysis of prejudice development than that previously offered by developmental theories. We describe research that supports our view that social norms, intergroup contact, and perceived outgroup threat affect the relative weight children place on moral and group-based criteria during the development of prejudice.

Children and Social exclusion: Morality, Prejudice and Group Identity

Children and Social Exclusion: Morality, Prejudice, and Group Identity explores the origins of prejudice and the emergence of morality to explain why children include some and exclude others. • Formulates an original theory about childrens experiences with exclusion and how they understand the world of discrimination based on group membership • Brings together Social Domain Theory and Social IdentityTheory to explain how children view exclusion that often results in prejudice, and inclusion that reflects social justice and morality • Presents new research data consisting of in–depth interviews from childhood to late adolescence, observational findings with peer groups, and experimental paradigms that test how children understand group dynamics and social norms, and show either group bias or morality • Illustrates data with direct quotes from children along withdiagrams depicting their social understanding • Presents new insights about the origins of prejudice and groupbias, as well as morality and fairness, drawn from extensive original data

Direct and Extended Friendship Effects on Minority and Majority Children's Interethnic Attitudes: A Longitudinal Study.

Longitudinal direct and extended cross-ethnic friendship effects on out-group evaluations among German (majority status, N = 76) and Turkish (minority status, N = 73) children (age 7-11 years) in ethnically heterogeneous elementary schools were examined at the beginning and end of the school year (time lag: 7 months). The results showed that among majority status children, but not minority status children, direct cross-ethnic friendship predicted over time positive out-group evaluations. This association was partly mediated by perceived social norms about cross-ethnic friendship relations. No longitudinal effects of extended cross-ethnic friendship were found. These results suggest that in ethnically heterogeneous contexts, direct friendship is more effective in changing intergroup attitudes than extended friendship and that social status moderates direct friendship effects.

Children’s Group Nous: Understanding and Applying Peer Exclusion Within and Between Groups

In Study 1, 167 English children aged 6-8 or 9-11 evaluated peer English or French soccer fans that were loyal or partially disloyal. In Study 2, 149 children aged 5-11 made judgments about generic inclusion norms between and within competitive groups. In both studies, childrens understanding of intergroup inclusion/exclusion norms (group nous) was predicted by theory of social mind (a social perspective taking measure) but not multiple classification skill. In Study 2, the number of groups children belonged to (an index of peer group experience) also predicted group nous. Supporting the developmental subjective group dynamics model (D. Abrams, A. Rutland, & L. Cameron, 2003), childrens experience and perspective taking help them make sense of inter- and intragroup inclusion and exclusion.

Promoting children's positive intergroup attitudes towards stigmatized groups: Extended contact and multiple classification skills training

Two studies were conducted to evaluate interventions, based upon the extended contact hypothesis and multiple classification skills training, which aimed to promote childrens positive intergroup attitudes towards two stigmatized groups. Study 1 tested whether extended contact and multiple classification skills training changed out-group attitudes towards the disabled among 6—9 year-old children. Out-group attitudes were significantly more positive only in the extended contact condition compared to the control. Study 2 involved four conditions: control, extended contact, modified multiple classification skills training and a combination of both interventions. Again, only the 6—11 year-old children who experienced the extended contact interventions (extended contact and combined) showed significantly more positive attitudes towards the refugee out-group compared to the control. The implications of these findings for the development of prejudice-reduction strategies in children will be discussed.

The development of subjective group dynamics: When in-group bias gets specific

Children aged 6-7 years and 10-11 years evaluated an in-group or out-group summer school and judged in-group or out-group members whose attitudes towards the summer schools were either normative or anti-normative. According to a subjective group dynamics model of intergroup processes, intergroup differentiation and intragroup differentiation co-occur to bolster the validity of in-group norms. The hypothesis that this process develops later than simple in-group bias was confirmed. All children expressed global in-group bias, but differential reactions to in-group and out-group deviants were stronger among older children. Moreover, the increasing relationship, with age, between in-group bias and evaluative preferences for in-group and out-group members that provide relative support to in-group norms, is mediated by the degree of perceptual differentiation among group members

Development of Intra- and Intergroup Judgments in the Context of Moral and Social-Conventional Norms.

Children and adolescents evaluated group inclusion and exclusion in the context of generic and group-specific norms involving morality and social conventions. Participants (N = 381), aged 9.5 and 13.5 years, judged an in-group members decision to deviate from the norms of the group, whom to include, and whether their personal preference was the same as what they expected a group should do. Deviating from in-group moral norms about unequal allocation of resources was viewed more positively than deviating from conventional norms about nontraditional dress codes. With age, participants gave priority to group-specific norms and differentiated what the group should do from their own preference about the groups decision, revealing a developmental picture about childrens complex understanding of group dynamics and group norms.

Older but Wilier: In-Group Accountability and the Development of Subjective Group Dynamics.

To test social and cognitive variables that may affect the development of subjective group dynamics, the authors had 224 children between the ages of 5 and 12 years evaluate an in-group and an out-group and normative and deviant in-group members under conditions of high or low accountability to in-group peers. In-group bias and relative favorability to normative versus deviant in-group members (differential evaluation) increased when children were accountable to peers and as a function of perceptions of peer group acceptance of these members (differential inclusion). These effects were significantly larger among older children. Multiple classification ability was unrelated to judgments of group members. This study shows that the development of subjective group dynamics involves an increase in sensitivity to the normative aspects of the intergroup context.

Children's judgments of disloyal and immoral peer behavior: subjective group dynamics in minimal intergroup contexts

The developmental model of subjective group dynamics hypothesizes that peer exclusion during middle childhood involves inferences about group dynamics. To test the generality of this prediction, children judged, within minimal groups, peers whose behavior was loyal versus disloyal (Study 1: n = 46, mean age = 113 months) or morally acceptable versus unacceptable (Study 2: n = 121, mean age = 90 months). As hypothesized, in Study 1, children used their understanding of loyalty norms as a basis for evaluating peers. In both studies, higher commitment to the in-group increased use of group-based criteria for judging peers. In Study 2, children employed moral- and group-based criteria independently for judging peers. Multiple classification skill was associated with lower intergroup bias and greater use of morality-based judgment.

When and why does extended contact work?: The role of high quality direct contact and group norms in the development of positive ethnic intergroup attitudes amongst children

This research examines quasi-experimentally for the first time whether direct contact moderates the extended contact effect amongst children, and whether the extended contact effect is mediated by either in-group or out-group norms about cross-ethnic friendships. We tested two forms of extended contact (Dual identity and Common in-group identity) among ethnic majority children aged 6–11 years (white–English, n = 153) with differing levels of high quality (i.e., cross-ethnic friendships) or low quality (i.e., acquaintances) direct contact with the Indian–English out-group. As expected, the extended contact effect was demonstrated only amongst children who reported less high quality direct contact. Furthermore, we found the effect of extended contact was mediated by out-group norms. We also found evidence of moderated mediation, with the indirect effect of extended contact through in-group norms being significantly stronger amongst older children. The implications for extended contact theory and the future development of prejudice-reduction interventions amongst children are discussed.