The Ontogeny of the Motivation That Underlies In-Group Bias

Buttelmann, David; Böhm, R. (2014). The Ontogeny of the Motivation That Underlies In-Group Bias. Psychological science, 25(4), pp. 921-927. Sage Publications 10.1177/0956797613516802

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Humans demonstrate a clear bias toward members of their own group over members of other groups in a variety of ways. It has been argued that the motivation underlying this in-group bias in adults may be favoritism toward one’s own group (in-group love), derogation of the out-group (out-group hate), or both. Although some studies have demonstrated in-group bias among children and infants, nothing is known about the underlying motivations of this bias. Using a novel game, we found that in-group love is already present in children of preschool age and can motivate in-group-biased behavior across childhood. In contrast, out-group hate develops only after a child’s sixth birthday and is a sufficient motivation for in-group-biased behavior from school age onward. These results help to better identify the motivation that underlies in-group-biased behavior in children.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

07 Faculty of Human Sciences > Institute of Psychology > Developmental Psychology

UniBE Contributor:

Buttelmann, David

Subjects:

100 Philosophy > 150 Psychology

ISSN:

0956-7976

Publisher:

Sage Publications

Language:

English

Submitter:

David Buttelmann

Date Deposited:

18 Jun 2018 13:03

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:05

Publisher DOI:

10.1177/0956797613516802

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.101123

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/101123

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