Children and Social Groups: A Developmental Analysis of Implicit Consistency in Hispanic Americans

We investigated the development of three aspects of implicit social cognition (selfesteem, group identity, and group attitude) and their interrelationships in Hispanic American children (ages 5 to 12) and adults. Hispanic children and adults showed positive implicit self-esteem and a preference for and identification with their ingroup when the comparison group was another disadvantaged minority group (African American). However, challenging the long-held view that children’s early intergroup attitudes are primarily egocentric, young Hispanic children do not show implicit preference for or identification with their in-group when the comparison was the more advantaged White majority. Results also supported predictions of cognitive-affective balance in the youngest children. Strikingly, balance was absent in adults, suggesting that in disadvantaged minority groups, cognitive-affective consistency may actually decline with age.