A central and important developmental science question is how to reduce prejudice and enable children to change group norms that promote unfair and inequitable treatment of others. To achieve these goals, it is necessary to examine norms and practices in children's worlds that exclude groups of individuals from having access to resources and opportunities (

No abstract

This study investigated the socializing influence of peers and parents in interracial encounters by disentangling how children and adolescents consider peer and parent messages when predicting interracial and same‐race inclusion. Black and White children (9–14 years old, N = 246) predicted the likelihood of interracial and same‐race peer inclusion when peer and parent sources of influence were present and provided justifications for their expectations. Results revealed that, while participants predicted inclusion would be less likely when parent sources of influence were present than when peer sources of influence were present, the racial composition of the encounter and the race of the participant mattered only in contexts with peer sources of influence. Participants’ reasoning about the benefits of inclusion and social pressure also differed when parent or peer sources were present. This study informs efforts to improve the quality of interracial peer interactions and programs designed to promote positive intergroup peer relationships.

Children’s understanding of status and group norms influence their expectations about social encounters. However, status is multidimensional and children may perceive status stratification (i.e., high- and low-status) differently across multiple status dimensions (i.e., wealth and popularity). The current study investigated the effect of status level and norms on children’s expectations about intergroup affiliation in wealth and popularity contexts. Participants (N = 165; age range: 5–10 years; Mage = 7.72 years) were randomly assigned to hear two scenarios where a high- or low-status target affiliated with opposite-status groups based on either wealth or popularity. In one scenario, the group expressed an inclusive norm. In the other scenario, the group expressed an exclusive norm. For each scenario, children made predictions about children’s expectations for a target to acquire social resources. Novel findings indicated that children associated wealth status to some extent, but they drew stronger inferences from the wealth dimension than from the popularity dimension. In contrast to previous evidence that children distinguish between high- and low-status groups, we did not find evidence to support this in the context of the current study. In addition, norms of exclusion diminished children’s expectations for acquiring social resources from wealth and popularity groups but this effect was more pronounced between wealth groups. We found age differences in children’s expectations in regards to norms, but not in regards to status. The implications of how these effects, in addition to lack of effects, bear on children’s expectations about acquiring resources are discussed.

No abstract