So It Is, So It Shall Be: Group Regularities License Children's Prescriptive Judgments.

Area of Science:

• Developmental Psychology
• Social Psychology
• Cognitive Science

Background:

• Understanding the transition from descriptive regularities to prescriptive norms is crucial for social development.
• Children's early understanding of group characteristics and social expectations is a key area of research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate when and how children and adults use group regularities to form prescriptive judgments.
• To examine the developmental trajectory of norm enforcement based on group behaviors.

Main Methods:

• Utilized novel, morally neutral groups (Hibbles and Glerks) with distinct behaviors.
• Assessed participants' (ages 4-13 and adults) evaluations of conforming and non-conforming individuals.
• Varied intergroup contexts (competitive and cooperative) and focused on group vs. individual regularities.

Main Results:

• Children, particularly younger ones, negatively evaluated individuals who did not conform to group regularities.
• Negative evaluations of non-conformity decreased with age.
• Reasoning was based on group regularities, not individual characteristics, across different contexts.

Conclusions:

• Children's developing group concepts influence their understanding and enforcement of social norms.
• Early norm enforcement is tied to adherence to group descriptive regularities.
• Findings offer insights into the development of stereotyping and social normativity.