Development of Ethnic Awareness in the Absence of Physical Cues

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Abstract
Perceptual differentiation may be a basic pre-requisite for the development of hostile intergroup attitudes when one is considering colour prejudice, but the racial model is of questionable validity when the cues used to distinguish between groups are much less obvious in physical terms. This study explored what children, aged 6 and 9 years, in Northern Ireland understand by the terms Protestant and Catholic by embedding them into a word definitions test. Subjects (n=192) came from an area of sectarian conflict and from two peaceful towns, one of which has a Protestant majority and the other a Catholic majority. Approximately half of the younger children and all but a few of the older children revealed knowledge of at least one of the labels. Age, religious denomination, and majority/minority status were seen to influence maturity of conceptualizations. Negative evaluations and allusions to intergroup hostility were infrequent. Most interpretations tapped the religious dimension. Since the terms have no single functional core in the Northern Ireland conflict, these findings are of considerable developmental interest.

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