Children’s Ethno-National Flag Categories in Three Divided Societies

Jocelyn B. Dautel; Edona Maloku; Ana Tomovska Misoska; Laura K. Taylor

doi:10.1163/15685373-12340090

Children’s Ethno-National Flag Categories in Three Divided Societies

Jocelyn B. Dautel^*, Edona Maloku, Ana Tomovska Misoska, Laura K. Taylor

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review

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Abstract

Flags are conceptual representations that can prime nationalism and allegiance to ones group. Investigating childrens understanding of conflict-related ethno-national flags in divided societies sheds light on the development of national categories. We explored the development of childrens awareness of, and preferences for, ethnonational flags in Northern Ireland, Kosovo, and the Republic of North Macedonia. Children displayed early categorization of, and ingroup preferences for, ethno-national flags. By middle-childhood, childrens conflict-related social categories shaped systematic predictions about others group-based preferences for flags. Children of minoritystatus groups demonstrated more accurate flag categorization and were more likely to accurately infer others flag preferences. While most Balkan children preferred divided versus integrated ethno-national symbols, children in the Albanian majority group in Kosovo demonstrated preferences for the new supra-ethnic national flag. We discuss the implications of childrens ethno-national flag categories on developing conceptualizations of nationality and the potential for shared national symbols to promote peace.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	373-402
Number of pages	30
Journal	Journal of Cognition and Culture
Volume	20
Issue number	5
Early online date	11 Dec 2020
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1163/15685373-12340090 https://doi.org/10.1163/15685373-12340090
Publication status	Published - 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We would like to thank the many schools, parents, and children who participated in this research. The research was carried out as part of the Helping Kids! lab (helpingkidsqubblog.wordpress.com), with financial support from the School of Psychology Research Incentivisation Scheme ( RIS ) at Queen’s University, Belfast and the Department for the Economy (DfE) – Global Challenge Research Fund ( GCRF ) Award [ DFEGCRF 17-18/Taylor] and continuing support from GCRF-GIAA 18-19/Taylor and British Psychological Society, Social Psychology Section, Pump-priming and Dissemination Fund Application. We also thank Risa Rylander for project management and Michal Fux and Amilcar Barreto for their helpful comments in the shaping of this paper. There are no conflicts of interest in the preparation or publication of this paper.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Brill Academic Publishers. All rights reserved.

Copyright:
Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Keywords

flags
intergroup conflict
nationality
social cognition

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Social Psychology
Cultural Studies
Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
Arts and Humanities (miscellaneous)

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10.1163/15685373-12340090Licence: Unspecified
10.1163/15685373-12340090

Children’s Ethno-National Flag Categories in Three Divided Societies
Copyright 2020 Brill Academic Publishers. This work is made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. Please refer to any applicable terms of use of the publisher.
Accepted author manuscript, 1.22 MBLicence: Unspecified

Cite this

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title = "Children{\textquoteright}s Ethno-National Flag Categories in Three Divided Societies",

abstract = "Flags are conceptual representations that can prime nationalism and allegiance to ones group. Investigating childrens understanding of conflict-related ethno-national flags in divided societies sheds light on the development of national categories. We explored the development of childrens awareness of, and preferences for, ethnonational flags in Northern Ireland, Kosovo, and the Republic of North Macedonia. Children displayed early categorization of, and ingroup preferences for, ethno-national flags. By middle-childhood, childrens conflict-related social categories shaped systematic predictions about others group-based preferences for flags. Children of minoritystatus groups demonstrated more accurate flag categorization and were more likely to accurately infer others flag preferences. While most Balkan children preferred divided versus integrated ethno-national symbols, children in the Albanian majority group in Kosovo demonstrated preferences for the new supra-ethnic national flag. We discuss the implications of childrens ethno-national flag categories on developing conceptualizations of nationality and the potential for shared national symbols to promote peace.",

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note = "Funding Information: We would like to thank the many schools, parents, and children who participated in this research. The research was carried out as part of the Helping Kids! lab (helpingkidsqubblog.wordpress.com), with financial support from the School of Psychology Research Incentivisation Scheme ( RIS ) at Queen{\textquoteright}s University, Belfast and the Department for the Economy (DfE) – Global Challenge Research Fund ( GCRF ) Award [ DFEGCRF 17-18/Taylor] and continuing support from GCRF-GIAA 18-19/Taylor and British Psychological Society, Social Psychology Section, Pump-priming and Dissemination Fund Application. We also thank Risa Rylander for project management and Michal Fux and Amilcar Barreto for their helpful comments in the shaping of this paper. There are no conflicts of interest in the preparation or publication of this paper. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020 Brill Academic Publishers. All rights reserved. Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",

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N2 - Flags are conceptual representations that can prime nationalism and allegiance to ones group. Investigating childrens understanding of conflict-related ethno-national flags in divided societies sheds light on the development of national categories. We explored the development of childrens awareness of, and preferences for, ethnonational flags in Northern Ireland, Kosovo, and the Republic of North Macedonia. Children displayed early categorization of, and ingroup preferences for, ethno-national flags. By middle-childhood, childrens conflict-related social categories shaped systematic predictions about others group-based preferences for flags. Children of minoritystatus groups demonstrated more accurate flag categorization and were more likely to accurately infer others flag preferences. While most Balkan children preferred divided versus integrated ethno-national symbols, children in the Albanian majority group in Kosovo demonstrated preferences for the new supra-ethnic national flag. We discuss the implications of childrens ethno-national flag categories on developing conceptualizations of nationality and the potential for shared national symbols to promote peace.

AB - Flags are conceptual representations that can prime nationalism and allegiance to ones group. Investigating childrens understanding of conflict-related ethno-national flags in divided societies sheds light on the development of national categories. We explored the development of childrens awareness of, and preferences for, ethnonational flags in Northern Ireland, Kosovo, and the Republic of North Macedonia. Children displayed early categorization of, and ingroup preferences for, ethno-national flags. By middle-childhood, childrens conflict-related social categories shaped systematic predictions about others group-based preferences for flags. Children of minoritystatus groups demonstrated more accurate flag categorization and were more likely to accurately infer others flag preferences. While most Balkan children preferred divided versus integrated ethno-national symbols, children in the Albanian majority group in Kosovo demonstrated preferences for the new supra-ethnic national flag. We discuss the implications of childrens ethno-national flag categories on developing conceptualizations of nationality and the potential for shared national symbols to promote peace.

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Children’s Ethno-National Flag Categories in Three Divided Societies

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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