Young children's responses to media representations of intergroup threat and ethnicity

• Published in: British journal of developmental psychology Vol. 30; no. 3; pp. 459 - 476
• Main Authors: Durkin, Kevin, Nesdale, Drew, Dempsey, Gemma, McLean, Amanda
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.09.2012; British Psychological Society
• Subjects: Age Factors; Analysis of Variance; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Child development; Child psychology; Child, Preschool; Children; Communications Media; Developmental psychology; Displays; Early childhood education; Ethnic Groups - psychology; Ethnic minorities; Ethnicity; European Continental Ancestry Group - psychology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Humans; Individual differences; Intergroup relations; Lower primary years; Male; Media; Minority Groups - psychology; Out-groups; Prejudice; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Racial differences; Scotland; Scottish people; Social Identification; Social identity; Social integration; Social Perception; Television; Threat; Young children; Scotland; Human; Preschool age; Social development; Social interaction; Minority; Representation; Mass media; Child; Intergroup relation; Ethnic group; Social cognition
• ISSN: 0261-510X; 2044-835X
• DOI: 10.1111/j.2044-835X.2011.02056.x

Two studies are reported in which ethnic majority children's reactions to media representations of ethnic minorities are examined. In Study 1, 20 white Scottish 6-year-olds viewed short television stories in which white or ethnic minority children were depicted as hostile to the participants' in-group (threat present) or not (threat absent). A strong effect of threat on liking was obtained but no effect of ethnicity of target and no interaction. In Study 2, 4- and 6-year-old white Scottish children viewed PowerPoint displays in which Scottish people were shown only as white (traditional version) or as ethnically diverse (multicultural version). Intergroup threat was manipulated. Again, a strong effect of threat was obtained. However, when threat was absent, participants exposed to the traditional condition liked the white out- group more than the multi-ethnic out-group, while participants exposed to the multicultural condition liked the multi-ethnic out-group more than the white out-group. The results are interpreted as consistent with the predictions of Social Identity Development Theory. [Author abstract]