Young children can see nationality as biological, says new study

According to a new study by psychology researchers, young children are partly seeing their national identity as biological, a perception that fades as they get older. In spite of the changes in conceptions of nationality as we get older, the book suggests the intriguing possibility that the roots of nationalist sentiments may be established early.

"As children grow up, they continue to think that the nationality of an individual is a stable aspect of their identity.It is not related to biology but nevertheless constitutes an informative element on its personality and going beyond citizenship formalities, "says Andrei. Cimpian, badociate professor in the Department of Psychology at New York University and lead author of the study, who appears in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. "To speculate, it is possible that the nationalistic feelings observed in adults are partly facilitated by psychological processes at work during the first decade of life."

The first author of the study was Larisa Hussak, PhD student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign at the time of the research and now consultant at EAB, an badysis company of the I & # 39; 39, higher education.

The researchers note that, despite the growing trend towards globalization in many aspects of modern life, nationality is a powerful source of meaning in people's lives. They cite a US survey of national elections that shows that 72% of Americans say they are American is "very important" or "extremely important" to their identity. In addition, the recent rise of nationalist ideologies in the United States and beyond shows the central role of national groups in the psychological landscape of the 21st century. In addition, previous studies have shown that national groups shape people's attitudes towards others. For example, stronger national identification predicts more negative attitudes towards immigrants and perceptions of ethnic minorities as foreigners rather than as full citizens.

Given the influence of national group concepts on how people perceive themselves and others, Cimpian and Hussak sought to understand how these concepts were not only portrayed in people's minds, but also what form they took early in life and whether they evolved or not in time.

To do this, they conducted a series of experiments including samples of American children aged 5 to 8 years old. To compare the views of children to those of American adults, Cimpian and Hussak recruited adults, aged about 30 years on average, who used those from Amazon. "Mechanical Turk" – a tool in which individuals are paid for performing small tasks and are frequently used in behavioral studies.

During these experiments, the subjects received a series of prompts to clarify their point of view on the factors of national identity. For example, they were shown images of young children identified as Americans or other nationalities (for example, Canadian) and asked if belonging to a national group was manifested in a person's biology (for example). for example, could it be detected "inside"?). They were also asked if, in their opinion, this membership provided information on other aspects of a person (for example, what games she liked to play at recess). In addition, they were asked what could explain differences in national traditions – for example, whether they thought Americans eat a lot of apple pie because of some of the inherent characteristics of Americans, or their history or situation.

The authors also sought to measure how American children perceive the benefits of belonging to their national group. Specifically, they badessed whether children believed that the inequalities that favor their group (the Americans) are legitimate and just. Both elements of this measure described Americans as having an economic advantage over two different and unknown non-American groups (for example, "Americans tend to have much more money than Daxians"). [a fictional nation]). To facilitate children's understanding, the researchers showed them images of an American flag and a non-American flag while presenting information on inequalities. The children were asked three questions about each inequality, in random order: (1) if they thought it was right that the Americans had an advantage, (2) if they thought that the inequality was good and (3) if the Americans deserved their advantage.

Overall, the results reveal how children and adults perceived belonging to a national group: it is stable and can not be easily eliminated, it is informative about behaviors and preferences of 'a person and its meaning goes beyond the formalities of citizenship.

"The nascent belief that nationality tracks deep and meaningful aspects of the social world seems to be part of the concepts of adult national identity, which helps to understand why these concepts are psychologically powerful," Hussak observes.

However, there were also differences in development. Young children were relatively more likely to badume that national identity had a physical or biological basis – something that can be detected in the body and transmitted from one generation to the next. However, this aspect of children's national identity concepts decreased in older children in the sample and was much less prevalent among adults.

In addition, and perhaps most significantly, as elderly subjects, the belief that a person's nationality is informative is increasingly likely to be linked to rationalizing inequalities: more the expectation of older children was great accepting that they were inequalities of status favoring their own national group.

"This work can provide a unique source of knowledge on current sociopolitical trends that prioritize national interests over globalization and cosmopolitanism," said Cimpian.

Provided by
The University of New York