The effect of group status on children's hierarchy‐reinforcing beliefs
The effect of group status on children's hierarchy‐reinforcing beliefs
复制标题
群体地位对儿童等级制度的影响——强化信念
DOI：
10.1111/desc.13393
复制
发表时间：
2023
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Rhodes, Marjorie
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Rizzo, Michael T.;Roberts, Steven O.;Rhodes, Marjorie
优势群体的成员比弱势群体的成员更有可能以加强其群体在等级制度中的地位的方式来思考、感受和行为。本研究考察了儿童在以群体为基础的等级制度中的地位如何以强化等级制度的方式塑造他们对等级制度和构成等级制度的群体的信念。为此，我们将儿童（4-8岁；N= 123； 75名女性，48名男性；21名亚洲人，9名黑人，21名拉丁裔/黑人，1名中东/北非人，14名多种族，41名白人，16名未指定）随机分配到不同社会地位（优势，劣势，中立第三方）的新群体中，并评估他们对等级制度的信念。在五个独立的评估中，优势群体的孩子更有可能认为等级制度是公平的、可概括的、挑战是错误的，更有可能持有偏见的群体间态度，并排斥弱势群体的成员。此外，随着年龄的增长，优势群体和弱势群体的孩子都更有可能将自己所在群体的成员身份视为遗传，同时期望与群体相关的行为更多地由环境决定。随着年龄的增长，孩子们也会认为等级制度更加不公平，并期望等级制度能在不同的环境中普遍化。这些发现为儿童在等级制度中的地位如何有助于形成强化等级制度的信念提供了新的见解。共有123名4-8岁的儿童被分配到一个等级中的优势组、劣势组和第三方组，并对7种等级强化信念进行了评估。条件优越的孩子更有可能说等级制度是公平的、可概括的，并且挑战和持有有利于条件优越的群体成员的群体间偏见是错误的。随着年龄的增长，优势群体和弱势群体的孩子对自己所在群体的成员身份持有更多的本质主义信念，而不是与他们所在群体相关的行为。结果表明，优越的群体地位可以塑造儿童对他们所处的等级制度的感知和反应。
Members of advantaged groups are more likely than members of disadvantaged groups to think, feel, and behave in ways that reinforce their group's position within the hierarchy. This study examined how children's status within a group‐based hierarchy shapes their beliefs about the hierarchy and the groups that comprise it in ways that reinforce the hierarchy. To do this, we randomly assigned children (4–8 years;N= 123; 75 female, 48 male; 21 Asian, 9 Black, 21 Latino/a, 1 Middle‐Eastern/North‐African, 14 multiracial, 41 White, 16 not‐specified) to novel groups that differed in social status (advantaged, disadvantaged, neutral third‐party) and assessed their beliefs about the hierarchy. Across five separate assessments, advantaged‐group children were more likely to judge the hierarchy to be fair, generalizable, and wrong to challenge and were more likely to hold biased intergroup attitudes and exclude disadvantaged group members. In addition, with age, children in both the advantaged‐ and disadvantaged‐groups became more likely to see membership in their own group as inherited, while at the same time expecting group‐relevant behaviors to be determined more by the environment. With age, children also judged the hierarchy to be more unfair and expected the hierarchy to generalize across contexts. These findings provide novel insights into how children's position within hierarchies can contribute to the formation of hierarchy‐reinforcing beliefs.Research HighlightsA total of 123 4–8‐year‐olds were assigned to advantaged, disadvantaged, and third‐party groups within a hierarchy and were assessed on seven hierarchy‐reinforcing beliefs about the hierarchy.Advantaged children were more likely to say the hierarchy was fair, generalizable, and wrong to challenge and to hold intergroup biases favoring advantaged group members.With age, advantaged‐ and disadvantaged‐group children held more essentialist beliefs about membership in their own group, but not the behaviors associated with their group.Results suggest that advantaged group status can shape how children perceive and respond to the hierarchies they are embedded within.