Group status rapidly shapes preschoolers’ social judgments in minimal group settings

Previous developmental research has consistently detected the presence of an explicit and implicit ingroup preference among preschoolers. More recent research has also demonstrated that this general ingroup bias is influenced by perceived social status when “real” groups are involved (i.e., groups with a previous history of interactions). Indeed, ingroup bias is significantly tempered among low-status group members. The main aim of the current study was to further investigate the role of social status by assessing both implicit and explicit intergroup attitudes in the context of newly formed groups. More specifically, children were randomly assigned to one of two fictitious groups on the basis of trivial criteria, thereby forming the so-called “minimal” groups. To manipulate group status, participants were then informed that one specific group—either the ingroup or the outgroup—was typically better than the other group during competitions. Finally, implicit and explicit intergroup attitudes were assessed. Overall, results showed that children rapidly formed implicit and explicit intergroup attitudes toward newly formed groups. Most important, the perceived status of the groups modulated such intergroup attitudes. Indeed, on both types of measures, ingroup bias emerged when the ingroup was associated with a high status, whereas it disappeared when the ingroup was in a low-status position.