CHILDRENS SUBJECTIVE IDENTIFICATION WITH THE GROUP AND IN-GROUP FAVORITISM

Recent developments in social psychology have explained children's pre ference for members of the in-group in terms of processes of self-cate gorization and identification with the in-group. in contrast, this stu dy, addressing nationality self-conceptions, examines the possibility that even before subjective identification T-vith the group has occurr ed; as de facto group members, children will have been exposed to a gr eat deal of positive information about their own national group, which is likely to encourage group-serving judgments. Children who had fail ed to identify themselves as members of their national group were requ ired in this study to make evaluative judgments about 5 national group s, including their own. Significant preference for the in-group emerge d on 2 of 3 measures. II is concluded that subjective identification w ith the in-group is not a necessary precondition for in-group favoriti sm.