Intergroup Attitudes and Relations in Childhood Through Adulthood

This edited volume captures an exciting new trend in research onintergroup attitudes and relations, which concerns how individuals makejudgments, and interact with individuals from different group categories,broadly defined in terms of gender, race, age, culture, religion, sexualorientation, and body type. This new approach is an integrative perspective, onewhich draws on theory and research in the areas of developmental and socialpsychology. Throughout human history, intergroup conflict has often served as the basis forsocietal conflict, strife, and tension. Over the past several decades,individual and group mobility has enabled individuals to interact with a widerrange of people from different backgrounds than ever before. On the one hand,this level of societal heterogeneity contributes to intergroup conflict. On theother hand, the experience of such heterogeneity has also reduced stereotypes,and increased an understanding of others' perspectives and experiences. Wheredoes it begin? When do children acquire stereotypes about the other? What arethe sources of influence, and how does change come about? To provide a deeper understanding of the origins, stability, and reduction ofintergroup conflict, scholars in this volume report on current, cutting edgetheory and new research findings. Progress in the area of intergroup attitudesrelies on continued advances in both the understanding of the origins and thetrajectory of intergroup conflict and harmony (as historically studied bydevelopmental psychologists) and the understanding of contexts and conditionsthat contribute to positive and negative intergroup attitudes and relations (ashistorically studied by social psychologists). Recent social and developmentalpsychology research clarifies the multifaceted nature of prejudice and the needfor an interdisciplinary approach to addressing prejudice. The recentblossoming of research on the integration of developmental and social psychologyrepresented in this volume will appeal to scholars and students in the areas ofdevelopmental psychology, social psychology, cognitive psychology, education,social neuroscience, law, business, and political science.

SRL: Associate Professor of Psychology, SUNY Stony Brook
MK: Professor of Human Development, University of Maryland College Park