Turkish and Syrian children's attitudes against discrimination and the effects of socially inclusive group work on prejudice among children

Research on inclusion and social exclusion shows that lack of social acceptance and being subject to discrimination have a significant effect on individual's current and future well-being (Fisher, Wallace, & Fenton, 2000; Parker & Asher, 1987; Reijntjes et al., 2010; Twenge & Baumeister, 2005). Along with the Syrian war and intense migration movement, Turkey becomes one of the largest hosts of refugees which caused an increase in the research on migration- and ethnicity-based inclusivity studies. These researches show that coexisting under certain circumstances (Pettigrew, 1998) or indirect contact (Cameron et al., 2011; Killen & Malti, 2015) reduces prejudice against members of different groups. This study examines nine to twelve-year-old Turkish and Syrian children's (N= 38) prejudices toward others; a group of these children (N= 8) took part in a 10-hour group work, pilot intervention plan. The effects of this group work on children's reasoning and racial attitudes are examined at the end of the group work. The prejudice of the experiment group decreased while the control group's racial attitudes stayed the same. Most participants stated that exclusion is wrong concerning universal moral principles.