Work

Encouraging children to mentalise about a perceived outgroup increases prosocial behaviour towards outgroup members

Year: 2018

Type: article

Abstract: We investigated whether encouraging young children to discuss the mental states of an immigrant group would elicit more prosocial behaviour towards them and impact on their perception of a group member's emotional experience. Five- and 6-year-old children were either prompted to talk about the thoughts and feelings of this social group or to talk about their actions. Across two studies, we found that this manipulation increased the extent to which children shared with a novel member of the immigrant group who was the victim of a minor transgression. The manipulation did not lead to greater sharing towards a victim from the children's own culture and did not influence their perception of a victim's negative emotions. These results may ultimately have implications for interventions aimed at fostering positive intergroup relations within the context of immigration.

Source: Developmental Science

DOI: 10.1111/desc.12774

Authors: Niamh McLoughlin, Harriet Over

Institutions: Boston University, Wheelock College, University of York

Language: English

Topic: Child and Animal Learning Development

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Reduced inequalities, Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: European Commission, H2020 European Research Council