Children’s and Adolescents’ Indirect Bystander Reactions: Developmental and Contextual Differences

• In Event: Moral judgments in intergroup contexts

Abstract

Bystander challenging can help to reduce social exclusion which has many negative effects on children. When peers intervene to challenge social exclusion as bystanders (i.e., witnesses), their reactions can help to reduce exclusion. However, bystander reactions can be either direct (i.e., intervening to stop the incident by confronting the perpetrator) or indirect (i.e., getting help from a teacher or friend). Unlike direct forms, indirect bystander challenging requires less resources (i.e., cognitive empathy, self-efficacy) and involves less risks (i.e., potential retaliation, perceived cost). Yet we know little about indirect bystander challenging. This study examines age differences in how children and adolescents indirectly challenge exclusion as bystanders, and whether such indirect challenging is dependent on the immigrant status of the excluder and the victim as the immigrant context is becoming more relevant in today’s global world.
British children’s (8- to 10-year-olds) and adolescents’ (13- to 15-year-olds, N = 340; Female N = 171, 50.3%) took part in the study from primary and secondary schools in South East of England. Participants were presented with a hypothetical scenario in which either a British or an immigrant peer was excluded from a school club by either British or immigrant peers. Then participants answered questions measuring their likelihood of indirect bystander reactions (i.e., getting help from a teacher and getting help from a friend). Following the measures, participants provided their reasoning and justifications through answering a “why?” question. Responses to the reasoning question were analyzed using a coding system drawing from Social Domain Theory (Turiel, 1983, 2008).
Results revealed that participants’ likelihood of indirect bystander reactions decreased from childhood into adolescence. Children were more likely to get help from a teacher than from a friend whereas adolescents were more likely to get help from a friend than from a teacher. Results also showed that when the excluders were British, participants were less likely to get help from a teacher or an adult than getting help from a friend. However, there was no difference when the excluders were immigrants. This might indicate that youth favored getting help from a friend over a teacher or adult when the perpetrator of exclusion was an ingroup peer (i.e., British). For both indirect bystander reactions, children justified their likelihood of challenging by referring to their trust in teachers and friends. Adolescents were more likely to refer to group loyalty and dynamics, and psychological reasons.
The findings support and extend the Social Reasoning Developmental (SRD) approach (Killen & Rutland, 2011) by showing the increasing importance of group processes with age in shaping indirect bystander reactions. Adolescents can become more aware of the consequences of letting an authority figure know about the negative situation in general. Youth also can understand that as a member of their group, they are expected to be loyal to their group to be socially accepted. Implications for the development of educational strategies to reduce social exclusion, and promote inclusive bystander reactions that challenge prejudice-based exclusion in globalised societies, will be discussed.

Authors

• Ayşe Şule Yüksel, University Of Exeter
  Presenting Author

• Sally Barbara Palmer, University Of Exeter

• Eirini Ketzitzidou Argyri, University Of Exeter

• Adam Rutland, University Of Exeter