Facilitating Positive Intergroup Relations: Research on Children’s and Adolescents’ Out-Group Prosociality

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Abstract

Communities and schools around the world are diversifying, and as such, children and youth are likely to interact with peers of different backgrounds, abilities, and beliefs. One strategy to encourage social cohesion and decrease discrimination in diverse settings is to promote out-group prosociality. In this symposium, four papers that employ mixed-methods present novel insight into children’s intergroup prosociality and identify strategies that may facilitate positive intergroup relations amongst children and youth. In a sample of ethnically diverse children (ages 6, 9, and 12 years) from Canada, Paper 1 showed that moral pride may be an important emotional motive underlying host-society children’s prosociality toward refugee newcomer peers. Across three studies, Paper 2 demonstrated that Dutch children (ages 6 to 9 years) understood that not all help is equal, but nevertheless tended to perpetuate inequality by differentially helping competent versus incompetent peers. Paper 3 revealed that an intervention targeting intergroup friendships in children from Switzerland (9-12 years) increased children’s moral reasoning and prosociality (i.e., support in contexts of intergroup exclusion, resource allocation strategies) toward peers with special educational needs. Finally, Paper 4 employed a person-centered approach to identify kinds of youth peacebuilders in conflict-affected societies in Northern Ireland. Four classes of youth peacebuilders were identified, and class membership varied based on youth’s prior exposure to intergroup threat. Together, these papers showcase the various psychological factors involved in the development of children’s and adolescents’ intergroup prosociality and, importantly, provide novel insight into how we can promote solidarity across group lines.

Sub Unit

• Moral Development

Chairs

• Joanna Peplak, University of California - Irvine

• Jeanine Grütter, University of Konstanz

Individual Presentations

• Canadian Host Society Children’s Kindness Toward Refugee Newcomer Peers: The Role of Moral Pride - Presenting Author: Joanna Peplak, University of California - Irvine; Tina Malti, University of Toronto

• Children Perpetuate the Status Quo When They Help Peers - Presenting Author: Jellie Sierksma, Utrecht University

• Children’s Evaluation of Bystander Behavior in Intergroup Situations: The Role of Peer Group Dynamics and First Insights From a School-Based Intervention Program - Presenting Author: Jeanine Grütter, University of Konstanz; Carmen Barth, University of Konstanz

• Who Is Building Peace? A Latent Class Analysis of Youth Peacebuilders in a Conflict-Affected Setting - Presenting Author: Laura K. Taylor, University College Dublin (UCD); Christine Elizabeth Merrilees, State University of New York College at Geneseo (SUNY Geneseo); Marcie C Goeke-Morey, The Catholic University of America; Peter Shirlow, University of Liverpool; E. Mark Cummings, University of Notre Dame