Effects of peer group rejection and a new group's norms on children's intergroup attitudes

摘要

This study examined the effects of peer group rejection and a new group's norms on7- and 9-year old children's intergroup attitudes. Children (N = 82) were rejected oraccepted by an initial group, then accepted by a new group that had a norm of inclusionversus exclusion towards others. Results showed that rejected compared withaccepted children had a more negative attitude towards the initial group, that they wereequally positive towards their new group, but that the rejected children were morenegative towards an outgroup. Results also revealed an age X target group X groupnorm effect that indicated that the younger children's attitudes towards the threegroups were more negative in the exclusion versus acceptance norm condition.The older children were also more negative towards the initial and new groups in theexclusion condition, but their more positive attitudes towards the outgroup wereunaffected by the group norms. The bases of the effects of peer group rejection andgroup norms are discussed.