Critical thinking, identity processing strategies, and attitudes toward ethnic minorities

In this article, we examine the role of critical thinking in shaping attitudes toward ethnic minorities in adolescence, with a focus on how identity-processing strategies moderate this relationship.
Critical thinking skills are associated with lower levels of prejudice and ethnocentrism. Adolescence represents a dynamic period in which identity is formed and attitudes develop rapidly. During this stage, identity-processing strategies—distinct ways individuals deal with worldview dissonance (e.g., cultural diversity)—also play an important role in shaping attitudes. The informational strategy aligns with both rational and intuitive processing, whereas the normative strategy correlates negatively with rational processing but positively with intuitive processing. In contrast, the diffuse-avoidant strategy shows a negative association with rational processing.
We analyzed data from the first wave of the Czech Educational Panel Survey (CZEPS), comprising 16,458 students aged 15–20 years from 249 high schools and 1,031 classes. The survey includes a critical thinking test and a questionnaire. Multilevel regression models were used to account for the hierarchical data structure, and interaction terms were included to test moderation effects.
Critical thinking skills positively predicted attitudes toward ethnic minorities. Moderation analysis revealed that this effect was strongest among individuals employing diffuse-avoidant strategies and those marginally reliant on informational and normative strategies. Conversely, for individuals predominantly utilizing informational or normative strategies, no significant association was found between attitudes and critical thinking skills.
Critical thinking skills were positively associated with more favourable attitudes toward ethnic minorities. Critical thinking skills had a positive effect on attitudes among individuals who scored low in informational and normative identity processing strategies. Among adolescents with high scores in informational or normative identity strategies, the moderation effect was weak or negligible. However, students with a normative strategy showed more negative average attitudes toward ethnic minorities than those with an informational strategy. And it turns out that the diffuse/avoidant strategy, per se, is not that important for attitudes towards minorities compared to critical thinking skills. We conclude that promoting critical thinking in education offers a promising pathway to reducing prejudice and improving intergroup relations.