Abstract
The aim of this review was to examine the effect of social and numerical group size on racial categorization and intergroup relations in children. We first described the development of racial categorization and the factors that increase the saliency of the race criterion in different contexts. Then, we examine the role of social status in intergroups relations and show that low status children express lower ingroup favoritism compared to their peers from high status groups. Few studies investigated the role of ingroup size on intergroup biases. Here, we look at this numerical variable through the proportion of children of different racial groups in the school environment. The results show that homogeneous environments contribute to the decrease of bias and negative attitudes. We discuss how identifying specific and interactive effects of the social and numerical group size would allow us to implement early and efficient intervention programs.
Highlights
Social and developmental psychologists have been studying racial issues for many decades (e.g., Aboud, 1988)
One study shows a tendency to favor the outgroup among 5 to 8 years-old Native Indian children who had more positive attitudes toward the White group than toward their own-group (Corenblum and Annis, 1993). These studies show that the social status of groups can have an impact on the development of racially based social categorization, as well as on children’s intergroup relationships. Another factor that may have an important role in racial categorization and that was less studied in the literature is the children’s school environment, in which racial groups may be found in different proportions
We focused on the interactive and the specific effects of group size and social status when studying the development of intergroup processes in children
Summary
Social and developmental psychologists have been studying racial issues for many decades (e.g., Aboud, 1988). The Black Lives Matters movement in the United States typically illustrates how racial issues are at the basis of important social and political conflicts today, despite all efforts of integration policies (Atkins, 2019). Racial categorization development depends on social context which includes ingroup size and social status (Verkuyten and Thijs, 2001; Gedeon et al, 2021). These factors modulate children’s experience in a given environment for example in terms of saliency of their group membership and valorization of their social identity and the development of racial categories. In some contexts, these two factors are not correlated (e.g., White people in South Africa)
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