Abstract

Northern Irish children's use of relationship rules when interacting with own and other group members was examined using a rule endorsement methodology derived from Argyle & Henderson (1984, 1985), A total of 503 children, who ranged from 9-11 years old and who attended Protestant (state) or Catholic (maintained) schools were presented with four vignettes depicting instances of positive and negative ingroup and out-group behaviour. The results revealed that children use rules in a simplistic manner with a single intimacy factor underlying their ratings, Children differentiated clearly between positive or negative behaviour in their use of rules. Denominational information had a smaller effect on children's ratings, with both Protestant and Catholic children displaying a significant preference for `Protestant' as opposed to `Catholic' actors. The results are discussed in terms of other examples of children's self-derogation found in Northern Ireland and the utility of this methodology in understanding in-group and out-group bias in intergroup encounters and relationships.