Children's understanding of abstract and real-world social groups.

IF 3.1 2区心理学 Q2 PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL

Developmental Psychology Pub Date : 2025-10-01 Epub Date: 2025-07-10 DOI:10.1037/dev0002022

Lisa Chalik, Yarrow Dunham

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

The present work explores how two intuitive theories inform young children's inferences about social groups. In three studies (N = 821), we tested whether 3- to 7-year-old children view novel (Studies 1 and 3), gender (Studies 2 and 3), and racial (Studies 2 and 3) groups as (a) marking individuals who are fundamentally similar to one another and (b) marking patterns of social relationships and interactions. We found evidence for both of these sets of beliefs. Children predicted that ingroup members would be more similar to one another than outgroup members for all of the groups tested. Children also predicted that novel group members would be friends with one another, would be nice to one another, and would avoid harming one another, and predictions regarding gender and racial groups increasingly followed patterns similar to predictions about novel groups across development. We also found preliminary evidence that individual differences among children inform the ways in which children develop their expectations of intergroup interaction. These findings suggest that children combine their abstract knowledge with their understanding of groups in the real-world to navigate the complex social world that they inhabit. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).

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儿童对抽象和现实社会群体的理解。

本研究探讨了两种直觉理论如何影响幼儿对社会群体的推断。在三项研究（N = 821）中，我们测试了3至7岁的儿童是否将小说（研究1和3）、性别（研究2和3）和种族（研究2和3）群体视为(a)标记彼此基本相似的个体和(b)标记社会关系和互动模式。我们为这两种信念找到了证据。孩子们预测，在所有测试的小组中，小组内成员比小组外成员彼此之间更相似。孩子们还预测，新群体的成员会彼此成为朋友，对彼此很好，并避免彼此伤害，而且关于性别和种族群体的预测越来越多地遵循与发展过程中对新群体的预测相似的模式。我们还发现了初步证据，表明儿童之间的个体差异影响了儿童对群体间互动的期望。这些发现表明，儿童将他们的抽象知识与他们对现实世界中群体的理解结合起来，以驾驭他们所居住的复杂社会世界。（PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA，版权所有）。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Developmental Psychology PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL-

CiteScore

5.80

自引率

2.50%

发文量

329

期刊介绍： Developmental Psychology ® publishes articles that significantly advance knowledge and theory about development across the life span. The journal focuses on seminal empirical contributions. The journal occasionally publishes exceptionally strong scholarly reviews and theoretical or methodological articles. Studies of any aspect of psychological development are appropriate, as are studies of the biological, social, and cultural factors that affect development. The journal welcomes not only laboratory-based experimental studies but studies employing other rigorous methodologies, such as ethnographies, field research, and secondary analyses of large data sets. We especially seek submissions in new areas of inquiry and submissions that will address contradictory findings or controversies in the field as well as the generalizability of extant findings in new populations. Although most articles in this journal address human development, studies of other species are appropriate if they have important implications for human development. Submissions can consist of single manuscripts, proposed sections, or short reports.