Competition shapes children’s attitudes toward us versus them in both minimal and real group contexts in Northern Ireland

Children often demonstrate ingroup bias, or more positive attitudes toward members of their own social groups. Only under certain circumstances, like intergroup competition, might children also demonstrate negative attitudes toward their outgroup (e.g. Nesdale, 1999). Two studies investigated the role of intergroup competition on children’s explicit liking of ingroup and outgroup members in a minimal group, and then a real group, paradigm in the post-conflict context of Northern Ireland. Study 1 introduced children (N= 105, ages 5-11 years, 70% female) to an experimental paradigm in which they were randomly assigned to a ‘yellow’ or ‘green’ minimal group. In a short story, children were told the groups were competing to win a game (competition condition), or not (control condition). Across conditions, children attributed equally positive attitudes to their ingroup. However, children in the competition condition demonstrated more negative attitudes towards the outgroup. Study 2 tested children’s (N= 90, ages 4-10 years, 60% female) ingroup and outgroup attitudes toward real conflict-related groups in Northern Ireland (Protestants/Catholics). Here we found an interaction between children’s group status and their group attitudes; children from the historic majority-status group (Protestant) demonstrated greater liking of the ingroup and greater dislike of the outgroup compared to children from the historic minority-status group (Catholic). In both studies, the more children identified with their ingroup, the greater the disparity between ingroup like and outgroup dislike. Together, these studies demonstrate that the difference between ‘us’ and ‘them’ becomes more exaggerated in contexts of intergroup competition.