Priming group identities affects children's resource distribution among groups

Abstract

The present research investigated the effect of ethnic–national identity on intergroup attitudes among Israeli children. Between 2019 and 2020, 136 Arab Muslim and 136 Jewish 5- and 10-year-olds (boys and girls) participated in one of four ethnic–national identity conditions: ingroup, outgroup, common identity, and control. In each condition, participants were described a city whose residents were defined according to the condition. Then, children were asked to “release” positive and negative animals to an ingroup city, an outgroup city, or a zoo. The results showed that highlighting a common identity improved attitudes across all children, but effect of ingroup and outgroup emphases varied between Jewish and Arab children. These results highlight the different dynamics of social identities among majority and minority children.