1
|
Stengelin R, Haun DBM, Kanngiesser P. Simulating peers: Can puppets simulate peer interactions in studies on children's socio-cognitive development? Child Dev 2023; 94:1117-1135. [PMID: 36779431 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13913] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/14/2023]
Abstract
Interactions with peers are fundamental to socio-cognitive development, but assessing peer interactions in standardized experiments is challenging. Therefore, researchers commonly utilize puppetry to simulate peers. This Registered Report investigated urban German children's (AgeRange = 3.5-4.5 years; N = 144; 76♀) mind ascriptions and social cognition to test whether they treat puppets like peers, adults, or neither. Children attributed less mind properties to puppets than peers or adults. However, children's social cognition (i.e., normativity, prosociality, and theory of mind) varied little across partners. Puppetry relies on children's ability for pretense, but can provide valid insights into socio-cognitive development. Implications for using puppets as stand-ins for peers in developmental research are discussed.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Roman Stengelin
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Leipzig Research Center for Early Child Development, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Psychology and Social Work, University of Namibia, Windhoek, Namibia
| | - Daniel B M Haun
- Department of Comparative Cultural Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Leipzig Research Center for Early Child Development, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
| | | |
Collapse
|
2
|
Hepach R, Gerdemann SC. How "peer-fear" of others' evaluations can regulate young children's cooperation. Behav Brain Sci 2023; 46:e64. [PMID: 37154366 DOI: 10.1017/s0140525x22001893] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/10/2023]
Abstract
Children's cooperation with peers undergoes substantial developmental changes between 3 and 10 years of age. Here we stipulate that young children's initial fearfulness of peers' behaviour develops into older children's fearfulness of peers' evaluations of their own behaviour. Cooperation may constitute an adaptive environment in which the expressions of fear and self-conscious emotions regulate the quality of children's peer relationships.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Robert Hepach
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK ; https://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/people/robert-hepach
| | - Stella Claire Gerdemann
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6GG, UK ; https://www.psy.ox.ac.uk/people/robert-hepach
- Department of Early Child Development, Leipzig University, 04109Leipzig, Germany ; https://www.lfe.uni-leipzig.de/en/employee/stella-gerdemann-2/
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Breeland N, Henderson AM, Low R. Initial interactions matter: Warm-up play affects 2-year-olds’ cooperative ability with an unfamiliar same-aged peer. J Exp Child Psychol 2022; 218:105328. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105328] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2021] [Revised: 11/09/2021] [Accepted: 11/10/2021] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
|
4
|
Kachel G, Moore R, Hepach R, Tomasello M. Toddlers Prefer Adults as Informants: 2- and 3-Year-Olds' Use of and Attention to Pointing Gestures From Peer and Adult Partners. Child Dev 2021; 92:e635-e652. [PMID: 33511648 DOI: 10.1111/cdev.13544] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Two- and 3-year-old children (N = 96) were tested in an object-choice task with video presentations of peer and adult partners. An immersive, semi-interactive procedure enabled both the close matching of adult and peer conditions and the combination of participants' choice behavior with looking time measures. Children were more likely to use information provided by adults. As the effect was more pronounced in the younger age-group, the observed bias may fade during toddlerhood. As there were no differences in children's propensity to follow peer and adult gestures with their gaze, these findings provide some of the earliest evidence to date that young children take an interlocutor's age into account when judging ostensively communicated testimony.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Gregor Kachel
- Leipzig University.,Duke University and Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
| | | | | | - Michael Tomasello
- Duke University and Max-Planck-Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Competence-based helping: Children's consideration of need when providing others with help. J Exp Child Psychol 2021; 210:105206. [PMID: 34134018 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2021] [Revised: 05/21/2021] [Accepted: 05/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
When and how other people's needs influence children's helping is poorly understood. Here we focused on whether children use information about other people's competence in their helping. In Study 1 (N = 128 4- to 8-year-old children), children could provide help to both an incompetent target and a competent target by pushing levers. Whereas older children helped incompetent targets more than competent targets, younger children (<5 years) helped both targets equally. Two further experiments (N = 20 and N = 28) revealed that 4-year-olds understood that the incompetent person needed more help and also understood how they could help. Thus, young children do not, like older children, give more help to those who need it the most. We discuss potential developmental changes toward competence-based helping.
Collapse
|
6
|
Mammen M, Köymen B, Tomasello M. Young children’s moral judgments depend on the social relationship between agents. COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT 2021. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cogdev.2020.100973] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
|
7
|
Schmerse D, Hepach R. How socialization goals and peer social climate predict young children's concern for others: Evidence for a development shift between 2 and 4 years of age. SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/sode.12478] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Schmerse
- Department of Educational Research and Educational Psychology Leibniz Institute for Science and Mathematics Education Kiel Germany
| | - Robert Hepach
- Department of Research Methods in Early Child Development Leipzig University Leipzig Germany
- Department of Experimental Psychology University of Oxford Oxford UK
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Ulber J, Tomasello M. Young children's prosocial responses toward peers and adults in two social contexts. J Exp Child Psychol 2020; 198:104888. [PMID: 32622070 DOI: 10.1016/j.jecp.2020.104888] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2019] [Revised: 05/02/2020] [Accepted: 05/02/2020] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Young children help and share with others, but little is known about the "how" and "who" of this early prosocial behavior. In the current study, we compared 2- and 3-year-old children's (N = 203; 101 girls) prosocial behavior of sharing and helping. We asked whether the process was different (a) if the social partner was an adult or a same-age peer and (b) if the child was actively interacting and engaged with the partner or not. The highest prosocial responses were found in bilateral joint tasks such as sharing the spoils after a collaborative effort and helping a partner finish a mutual activity. Prosocial responses were lower in unilateral autonomous tasks such as assisting another person in opening a locked box and distributing a windfall of resources. Children did not show an overall preference for helping or sharing with adults versus peers except that they were more likely to support a peer than an adult in an instrumental helping task. Together, these findings suggest that toddlers' early prosocial skills and motivations are more sensitive to how toddlers are engaged with a partner than to who that partner is, implying that children have a nondiscriminatory general inclination to benefit others, especially in bilateral interactive scenarios.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Julia Ulber
- School of Psychology, Politics, and Sociology, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury CT1 1QU, UK; Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
| | - Michael Tomasello
- Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Investigating the nature of children's altruism using a social humanoid robot. COMPUTERS IN HUMAN BEHAVIOR 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.chb.2019.09.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
|
10
|
Martin DU, MacIntyre MI, Perry C, Clift G, Pedell S, Kaufman J. Young Children's Indiscriminate Helping Behavior Toward a Humanoid Robot. Front Psychol 2020; 11:239. [PMID: 32153463 PMCID: PMC7047927 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.00239] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2019] [Accepted: 01/31/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Young children help others in a range of situations, relatively indiscriminate of the characteristics of those they help. Recent results have suggested that young children's helping behavior extends even to humanoid robots. However, it has been unclear how characteristics of robots would influence children's helping behavior. Considering previous findings suggesting that certain robot features influence adults' perception of and their behavior toward robots, the question arises of whether young children's behavior and perception would follow the same principles. The current study investigated whether two key characteristics of a humanoid robot (animate autonomy and friendly expressiveness) would affect children's instrumental helping behavior and their perception of the robot as an animate being. Eighty-two 3-year-old children participated in one of four experimental conditions manipulating a robot's ostensible animate autonomy (high/low) and friendly expressiveness (friendly/neutral). Helping was assessed in an out-of-reach task and animacy ratings were assessed in a post-test interview. Results suggested that both children's helping behavior, as well as their perception of the robot as animate, were unaffected by the robot's characteristics. The findings indicate that young children's helping behavior extends largely indiscriminately across two important characteristics. These results increase our understanding of the development of children's altruistic behavior and animate-inanimate distinctions. Our findings also raise important ethical questions for the field of child-robot interaction.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Dorothea U. Martin
- Swinburne BabyLab, Department of Psychological Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia
| | - Madeline I. MacIntyre
- Swinburne BabyLab, Department of Psychological Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia
| | - Conrad Perry
- School of Psychology, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, Australia
| | - Georgia Clift
- Swinburne BabyLab, Department of Psychological Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia
| | - Sonja Pedell
- Swinburne Future Self and Design Living Lab, Centre for Design Innovation, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia
| | - Jordy Kaufman
- Swinburne BabyLab, Department of Psychological Sciences, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Abstract
Humans rely heavily on their prosocial relationships. We propose that the experience and display of prosocial emotions evolved to regulate such relationships through inhibiting individual selfishness in service of others. Two emotions in particular serve to meet two central requirements for upholding prosociality: gratitude motivates maintenance of ongoing prosocial interactions, and guilt motivates repair of ruptured prosocial interactions. We further propose, and review developmental evidence, that nascent forms of these two emotions serve their respective functions from early in ontogeny. The remarkably early emergence of these prosocial emotions allows even very young children to participate in and benefit from prosociality. We discuss the implications of and challenges to this conclusion and identify pressing future directions for this work.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Amrisha Vaish
- Department of Psychology, University of Virginia, USA
| | - Robert Hepach
- Department of Research Methods in Early Child Development, University of Leipzig, Germany
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
Hepach R, Benziad L, Tomasello M. Chimpanzees help others with what they want; children help them with what they need. Dev Sci 2019; 23:e12922. [PMID: 31710758 DOI: 10.1111/desc.12922] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2018] [Revised: 07/17/2019] [Accepted: 10/29/2019] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Humans, including young children, are strongly motivated to help others, even paying a cost to do so. Humans' nearest primate relatives, great apes, are likewise motivated to help others, raising the question of whether the motivations of humans and apes are the same. Here we compared the underlying motivation to help in human children and chimpanzees. Both species understood the situation and helped a conspecific in a straightforward situation. However, when helpers knew that what the other was requesting would not actually help her, only children gave her what she needed instead of giving her what she requested. These results suggest that both chimpanzees and human children help others but the underlying motivation for why they help differs. In comparison to chimpanzees, young children help in a paternalistic manner. The evolutionary hypothesis is that uniquely human socio-ecologies based on interdependent cooperation gave rise to uniquely human prosocial motivations to help others paternalistically.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Robert Hepach
- Research Methods in Early Child Development, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Sachsen, Germany
| | - Leïla Benziad
- Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Michael Tomasello
- Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.,Duke University, Durham, NC, USA
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Abstract
In the current study, 24- to 27-month-old children (N = 37) used pointing gestures in a cooperative object choice task with either peer or adult partners. When indicating the location of a hidden toy, children pointed equally accurately for adult and peer partners but more often for adult partners. When choosing from one of three hiding places, children used adults' pointing to find a hidden toy significantly more often than they used peers'. In interaction with peers, children's choice behavior was at chance level. These results suggest that toddlers ascribe informative value to adults' but not peers' pointing gestures, and highlight the role of children's social expectations in their communicative development.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Gregor Kachel
- Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.,Faculty of Social and Educational Sciences, University of Applied Sciences Potsdam, Germany
| | - Richard Moore
- Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.,Berlin School of Mind and Brain, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany
| | - Michael Tomasello
- Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.,Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, North Carolina, USA
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Affiliation(s)
- Felix Warneken
- Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
| |
Collapse
|