The development of Israeli children's images of Jews and Arabs and their expression in human figure drawings.

Abstract

The development of images of "a Jew" and "an Arab" in Jewish Israeli children who were 4-15 years of age was investigated by means of human figure drawings followed by the administration of questionnaires. The drawings were scored on structural and thematic variables. The questionnaires assessed beliefs and intentions. The hypotheses predicted a differential perception of in- and out-groups and peaks in negativity toward the out-group at preschool age and in early adolescence. Results indicate that, irrespective of age, Jewish Israeli children have generalized images of the two ethnic groups. Preschoolers expressed both positive biases toward the in-group and negativism toward the out-group. and early adolescents manifested mainly negative biases toward the out-group. Children in middle childhood and mid-adolescents manifested reductions in both in-group favoritism and out-group negativity.

Acquisition and Development of a Shared Psychological Intergroup Repertoire in a Context of an Intractable Conflict

“…In the context of intractable confl ict, we have found that, compared with younger children and adolescents, pre-and early adolescents demonstrate an increased ingroup preference and out-group rejection (Bar-Tal & Teichman, 2005 ;Black-Gutman & Hickson, 1996 ;Rutland, 1999 ;Teichman, 2001 ;Vaughan, 1987 ), supporting our contention that in this phase of development youth have a high need for selfenhancement. Likewise, fi ndings reported by Nesdale and Brown ( 2004 ) and Nesdale, Maass, Durkin, and Griffth ( 2005 ) show that children aged 9 and 12 were more sensitive to a negative representative of their in-group than were younger children.…”

“…However, studies conducted in nonviolent environments and in confl ict reported a renewed elevation in prejudice during this age (Black-Gutman & Hickson, 1996 ;Bar-Tal & Teichman, 2005 ;Rutland, 1999 ;Teichman, 2001 ;Vaughan, 1987 ). We attribute the fi ndings obtained for minority children and for early adolescents to the infl uences of context and identity development.…”

Development of the positive–negative asymmetry effect: in‐group exclusion norm as a mediator of children's evaluations on negative attributes

“…Interestingly, however, there are various examples of research on children's national intergroup attitudes indicating that children in early adolescence can still show intergroup bias (e.g., Abrams et al, 2003a;Bennett et al, 1998;Rutland, 1999;Tajfel, Nemeth, Jahoda, Campbell, & Johnson, 1970;Verkuyten, 2001Verkuyten, , 2003Teichman, 2001). This finding could be explained by a self-presentational account, since found that when 10-to 12-year-old children were made publicly self-conscious they moderated their expression of national intergroup.…”

Findings, theories and methods in the study of children's national identifications and national attitudes

“…However, an exception occurs in the case of those nations which are the 'traditional enemies' of the child's own country, which are often disliked from an earlier age (Barrett, 2007;Jahoda, 1962;Oppenheimer & Hakvoort, 2003;Piaget & Weil, 1951;Teichman, 2001). Indeed, in countries which have experienced warfare, extreme negativity may be displayed towards enemy groups as early as 2 or 3 years of age (Bar-Tal, 1996;Bar-Tal & Teichman, 2005;Povrzanovi?, 1997).…”