Preschoolers Use Helpful and Harmful Interactions to Predict Social Category Membership

Autor/inn/en	Switzer, Jessica L.; San Juan, Valerie; Graham, Susan A.
Titel	Preschoolers Use Helpful and Harmful Interactions to Predict Social Category Membership
Quelle	In: Developmental Psychology, 56 (2020) 6, S.1057-1072 (16 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Graham, Susan A.)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0012-1649
DOI	10.1037/dev0000925
Schlagwörter	Preschool Children; Interaction; Classification; Helping Relationship; Social Cognition; Foreign Countries; Group Dynamics; Interpersonal Competence; Rating Scales; Canada; Social Skills Improvement System Rating Scales + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Pre-school age; Preschool age; Child; Children; Pre-school education; Preschool education; Vorschulalter; Kind; Kinder; Vorschulkind; Vorschulkinder; Vorschulerziehung; Vorschule; Interaktion; Classification system; Klassifikation; Klassifikationssystem; Helfende Beziehung; Soziale Kognition; Ausland; Gruppendynamik; Interpersonale Kompetenz; Rating-Skala; Kanada
Abstract	A core question in social categorization research focuses on how children organize social categories. We examined whether 4- and 5-year-olds: (a) identify the social category membership of a person based on relational interactions between that person and a known category member; and (b) use these social categories to guide inferences about certain shared properties. Preschoolers (n = 229) were introduced to 2 novel social categories (comprised of diverse individuals), each possessing a distinct property (e.g., dancing vs. singing). During test trials, children witnessed members from each category direct helpful, harmful, or neutral actions toward ambiguous characters. In Experiment 1, when a member of a category exhibited helpful actions toward an ambiguous character, children inferred that the ambiguous character belonged to the same category as the helper. In contrast, when a group member directed harmful actions toward the ambiguous character, children inferred that ambiguous character belonged to the alternate category. In neither case did children extend category properties to the new member. In Experiment 2, category properties were introduced as mutually exclusive social conventions. Here, children used helpful and harmful actions to identify the social category of an ambiguous character and generalize the property. In Experiment 3, when social categories were introduced using only shared physical location and shared activity as a marker of category membership, children did not use helpful or harmful behavior to predict category membership. Together findings indicate that children can identify social category membership based on observed social interactions when meaningful category information is available. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	American Psychological Association. Journals Department, 750 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20002. Tel: 800-374-2721; Tel: 202-336-5510; Fax: 202-336-5502; e-mail: order@apa.org; Web site: http://www.apa.org
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01