Poster #200 - Developmental Trends in Children’s Receptivity to Overheard Messages about Social Groups

• In Event: 1-115 - Poster Session 03
  In Poster Session: PS 03 Section - Social Cognition

Integrative Statement

One way to inform work aimed at reducing intergroup bias is to examine ways in which children acquire biases. As early as age 3, children demonstrate preferences for those who share their gender or race (Nesdale, 2004); these in-group preferences strengthen across early development, peaking in middle childhood (Raabe & Beelmann, 2011). During this period, out-group derogation may also develop (Buttelmann & Böhm, 2013). Work using “minimal group paradigms” suggests that at least some intergroup biases are learned from other people (Bigler & Liben, 2007). In this study, we examine one method by which children can acquire negative attitudes toward new social groups – by overhearing others’ conversations. Because additional research suggests that children’s receptivity to and interpretation of messages about non-social information depends on the quality of speakers’ knowledge (Koenig & Sabbagh, 2013) and the age of the speaker (VanderBorght & Jaswal, 2009), we examine how overhearing negative messages about novel social groups influences children’s attitudes towards those groups, and whether the influence of these messages varies if the speaker is an adult or a child.

Children ages 3.75- to 9.25-years (N=131) overheard a video call between a researcher and another person (the “speaker”). The speaker was either a girl (aged 7 years) or a young adult woman. Participants were randomly assigned to hear the speaker either make a negative claim about a novel social group (e.g., “those Gearoos are really bad people, they eat disgusting food and wear such weird clothes, the Gearoos’ language sounds so ugly”) or no claim about the novel social group. Children’s implicit and explicit attitudes toward the group were assessed immediately following the claim and after a two-week delay.

The speakers’ negative messages had the greatest influence on older children’s (6.50- to 9.25-year-olds’) intergroup attitudes, and little influence on younger children’s (3.75- to 6.49-year-olds’) attitudes. For example, immediately following the speaker’s claims, older children’s (6.50–9.25 years) ratings of the novel group’s “goodness” were lower if they had overheard the negative message than if they had not (p=.001); younger children’s (3.25–6.49 years) “goodness” ratings did not differ whether or not they heard the speaker’s negative message (p = .99), F(1, 122) = 5.97, p = .016 (Figure 1). Older children also wanted to try fewer elements of the novel culture (e.g., the culture’s food, games) if they had overheard the negative claim than if they had not (p = .005); however, for younger children, overhearing the negative message had no effect (p = .14), F(1, 121) = 9.69, p = .002 (Figure 2). According to most measures, children’s intergroup attitudes were influenced equally whether the speaker was a child or an adult. Many of these effects were present both immediately after children heard the negative claims and following a two-week delay. Reasons for the apparent age-related increase in children’s receptivity to intergroup messages will be discussed.

Authors

• Emily B Conder, Vanderbilt University
  Presenting Author

• Jonathan D. Lane, Vanderbilt University
  Non-Presenting Author