Children’s and Adults’ Affectionate Generosity Toward Members of Different Religious Groups

This article examines children’s and adults’ willingness to give a nonmonetary resource—affection—to in-group versus out-group members. In a study of attitudes toward Christian, Jewish, and non-religious people, religious participants—children as well as adults—reported that the religious out-group...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The American behavioral scientist (Beverly Hills) 2019-12, Vol.63 (14), p.1910-1937
Main Authors: Heiphetz, Larisa, Young, Liane L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adults
Attitudes
Characters
Children
Christianity
Christians
Cognition
Cognitive development
Group identity
Love
Religion
Religious attitudes
Religious cultural groups
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Summary:This article examines children’s and adults’ willingness to give a nonmonetary resource—affection—to in-group versus out-group members. In a study of attitudes toward Christian, Jewish, and non-religious people, religious participants—children as well as adults—reported that the religious out-group member was more like them and more likeable than the non-religious character, despite the fact that both characters were members of an out-group. Non-religious participants did not distinguish between out-group characters in response to these questions. Although these patterns emerged among both children and adults, we also found that children reported more affection toward Christian characters than did adults. We discuss implications of the results for the study of generosity as well as for intergroup attitudes, religious cognition, and development.
ISSN:0002-7642
1552-3381
DOI:10.1177/0002764219850870