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Symbols and labels: Children's awareness of social categories in a divided society
Author(s) -
Taylor Laura K.,
Dautel Jocelyn,
Rylander Risa
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of community psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.585
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1520-6629
pISSN - 0090-4392
DOI - 10.1002/jcop.22344
Subject(s) - categorization , ingroups and outgroups , social identity theory , psychology , social psychology , developmental psychology , optimal distinctiveness theory , identity (music) , social group , linguistics , philosophy , physics , acoustics
Aims How and when children develop an understanding of group boundaries have implications for conflict resolution. When social divisions are not perceptually distinct, symbols become particularly important. Framed by the Social Identity Development Theory, this study was designed to assess children's categorization of symbols with conflict‐related group labels. Method In Northern Ireland, 218 children ( M = 8.14, SD = 1.83, range 5–11 years old) participated in a novel task designed for this study. The sample was evenly split by child gender and community background. Results Children sorted symbols above chance with both the hypothesized national (i.e., British/Irish) and ethno‐political (i.e., Protestant/Catholic) labels, showing a stronger association for the former. Sorting was also stronger for ingroup symbols, compared to outgroup symbols, and increased with age. Conclusion These findings reflect the potential role that a divided social world has on the development of children's understanding of conflict‐related groups. The results also have implications for intergroup relations among children in divided societies.