ABSTRACT

The study investigated firstly, gender and age differences with respect to the beliefs of social equality, a cognitive component of system justification; secondly, the attribution of positive and negative traits to in-group and out-group peers in school age children. Thirdly and finally, we explored the relations between social equality and attribution of traits, controlling for gender and age. 163 Italian children (M age = 8.37 years, SD = 1.11; 49% girls) participated in the study. They were administered a short self-report questionnaire investigating social equality and were asked to attribute positive and negative traits to the figures of two children (one in-group child with “white” skin; one out-group child with “black” skin). We found that: a) older children perceived higher social equality and girls were less likely than boys to attribute negative traits to the in-group peer; b) children who had higher social equality beliefs were less likely to attribute negative traits and more likely to attribute positive traits to both in-group and out-group peers, also controlling for gender and age. Increasing the beliefs of social equality in children appears a useful educational intervention for promoting both in-group and out-group non-discriminatory peer relations.

KEYWORDS: social equality, trait attribution, children.

PAGES: 47-61