What was the general topic of the article? What did previous research show about

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What was the general topic of the article? What did previous research show about this issue and What was the goal of this particular study? Check for updates dps Rnearcb Report Young Children Are More Likely to Spontaneously Attribute Mental States to Members of Their Own Group Roprins and pemsnion SAGE Niamh McLoughlin and Harriet Over Depanment of Paychology Univernity of York We investigated whether young children were more likely to spontaneously attribute mental states to members of their own social group than to members of an out-group. We asked 5- and 6-year-old children to describe the actions of interacting gcometric shapes and manipulated whether the children believed these shapes represented their own group or another group. Children of both ages spontaneously used mental-state words more often in their description of in-group members compared with out-group members, Purthermore, 6-year-olds produced a greater diversity of mental-state terms when talking about their own social group. These effects held across two different social categories Cbased on gender and geographic location). This research has important implications for understanding a broad range of social phenomena, including dehumanization, intergroup bias, and theory of mind Keywords social cognition, childhood development, theory of mind, prejudice, open data Received 6/Revision accepsed V2/17 The ability to understand others' minds is vital to human young children were more likely to spontaneously con- social interaction (Baron-Cohen, Leslie, & Frith, 1985; sider the mental states of in-group members than those Gray, Gray, & Wegner, 2007). From a young age, chil of out-group members. To do so, we adapted a para- dren are able to reason about the intentions (Carpenter, digm created by Abell, Happé, and Frith (2000) in Akhtar, & Tomasello, 1998), desires (Repacholi & which participants were asked to describe the behav- Gopnik, 1997), and perhaps even the beliefs (Onishi& ior of interacting geometric shapes. The actions of Baillargeon, 2005) of other people. these shapes have been shown to elicit mental-state However, social psychological research has demon terms in typically developing children and adults strated that adults do not always take the mental life of (Abell et al., 2000). We manipulated whether the chil- others into account (Harris & Fiske, 2006). They some- dren believed these shapes represented members of times dehumanize members of social out-groups or their own social group or a different social group. We deny their mental capacities, such as intelligence, predicted that they would use mental-state terms more agency, and emotional depth (Haslam, 2006, Leyens often, and with greater variety, when describing in- et al., 2000). Out-group dehumanization has been an group interactions. integral part of prejudice and discrimination throughoutWe tested these hypotheses with two different types history and remains an important political issue today of social group, one relating to gender and the other (Haslam, 2006). Although the tendency to dehumanize relating to geographic location. We chose to manipulate others is not limited to any one political group, rising support for far-right parties throughout the West makes the significance of this topic all too clear (Roth, 2017) gender because previous research has shown that this In the present study, we combined developmental work on theory of mind with social psychological Hesington. Yok Yo10 SDD, Corresponding Author Niamh Mcloughlin, Department of Psychology, University ofl York, Englaod on dehumanization by investigating whether E-mal: ncm5130york.ac.auk

Explanation / Answer

1. The general topic of the article attributions of children in a group. As they are talking about the mental attribution of small children towards ingroup and outgrouo norms. Hence this is the best general topic of the study.

2. The earlier researches have shown that the adults have a tendency of dehumanising the members of the other groups as they do not realise and care about others while showing cohesion to the own group. They follow descrimination and prejudices in order to do that. Also the past research comments that gender is a prominent feature of the yound children as the stereotypes of gender have just developed in this age and they influence the thought processes , behaviors and career aspects of children.

3. The objective of the study was to understand the attribution of children of 5-6 years towards ingroup or outgroup members with respect to their geographic backgrounds and genders

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