Children Use Nonverbal Cues to Make Inferences About Social Power
Year: 2014
Type: article
Abstract: Four studies (N = 192) tested whether young children use nonverbal information to make inferences about differences in social power. Five- and six-year-old children were able to determine which of two adults was "in charge" in dynamic videotaped conversations (Study 1) and in static photographs (Study 4) using only nonverbal cues. Younger children (3-4 years) were not successful in Study 1 or Study 4. Removing irrelevant linguistic information from conversations did not improve the performance of 3- to 4-year-old children (Study 3), but including relevant linguistic cues did (Study 2). Thus, at least by 5 years of age, children show sensitivity to some of the same nonverbal cues adults use to determine other people's social roles.
Source: Child Development
DOI: 10.1111/cdev.12334
Authors: Elizabeth Brey, Kristin Shutts
Institution: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Education, National Institutes of Health, Institute of Education Sciences, Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders, University of Wisconsin-Madison, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
OpenAlex ID: W2114909663