Children and Adolescents’ Approval of Outgroup Helping: Need and Amount of Helping Matters.

• In Event: 2-124 - Children’s Emotions and Prosocial Behavior in the Context of Intergroup Relations

Integrative Statement

Intergroup relationships are complex as they require individuals to weigh both concerns for their own group’s interests and generic moral concerns, regarding overall fairness, justice, and other’s well-being (Rutland & Killen, 2017). At times fairness or justice is compromised when concerns for one’s own group interests are prioritized. Thus helping an outgroup may be viewed negatively when it is perceived as interfering with one’s own group interests. Research has established that children often intend to help outgroups especially in situations when the outgroup is viewed as needing the help (Sierksma, Thjis, & Verkuyten , 2015). However, less is known about how children and adolescents might weigh outgroup and ingroup need with how much help to give the outgroup. The current study examined developmental patterns in how 9- and 13-year-olds weigh ingroup and outgroup need for a necessary resource (i.e., water) against different levels of outgroup helping (low, equal, high outgroup helping). It was expected that with age group interests are more likely to be prioritized over outgroup need.

The sample included 112 children and adolescents who chose to be in either a green group (e.g, wear green shirts) of friends who hang out after school or a yellow group of friends. Then they responded to three within subject stories in which each group discovered varying levels of need for water (i.e., equal need, outgroup needs more, ingroup needs more) when out camping. Amount of helping the outgroup was randomly varied between subjects such that participants either received stories in which the outgroup was helped less than the ingroup by an ingroup member who found water, or was helped the same amount or was helped more than the ingroup. Participants were asked to evaluate the distribution act by the ingroup member (Likert Scale: 1 = Really not Okay, to 6 = Really Okay) and the importance of helping the ingroup and outgroup (Likert Scale: 1 = Really Not Important, 6 = Really Important).

Findings indicated that all participants weighed both need and the amount of helping when evaluating the act of the ingroup member who distributed the water, as shown by the interaction effect between Need and Distribution Type (F(4, 202) = 35.38, p=.001, η^2= .41). Thus, participants were most accepting of the distribution when it mapped onto the needs of the either group. As shown in Figure 1 ingroup bias in the importance of helping both groups was heavily dependent on the need for water by each group (F(4, 202) = 49.46, p<.001, η^2= .32). Some age-related findings indicate that older participants were more tolerant of low outgroup helping than younger participants when outgroups need was high and equal.

These findings indicate that as early as 9 years of age children are able to weigh both need and levels of helping when evaluating intergroup interactions, citing concerns for fairness and physical well-being. Age-related patterns will be discussed in light of adolescents growing concerns for group processes. The findings add to the growing literature on children’s moral development in intergroup contexts.

Authors

• Aline Hitti, University of San Francisco
  Presenting Author

• Kelly Lynn Mulvey, North Carolina State University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jacquelyn Glidden, University of San Francisco
  Non-Presenting Author