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Toddlers prefer those who win but not when they win by force
Ashley J Thomas1,2, Lotte Thomsen3,4, Angela F Lukowski5
1Department of Cognitive Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA. ashleyjt@uci.edu.
Nature Human Behaviour
|July 27, 2019
Summary
Toddlers recognize social status and use it to decide who to approach. They prefer winners in non-forceful conflicts but avoid those who use force to win, indicating early social status navigation.
Area of Science:
- Developmental psychology
- Social cognition
- Comparative psychology
Background:
- Social hierarchies are universal in human societies.
- Infants can perceive social rank but their approach behaviors based on status are unknown.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether toddlers aged 21-31 months prefer approaching high- or low-ranking individuals.
- To explore early human social status navigation.
Main Methods:
- Seven experiments were conducted using puppet-based scenarios.
- Toddlers observed conflicts where one puppet yielded to another (non-forceful win) or used force to win.
- Approach behaviors were measured by observing which puppet toddlers reached for.
Main Results:
- Toddlers preferred the 'winner' puppet in non-forceful conflicts (20/23 toddlers).
- Toddlers preferred the 'loser' puppet when force was used to win (18/22 toddlers).
- Follow-up experiments ruled out alternative explanations for the observed preferences.
Conclusions:
- Humans recognize relative social status from a very early age.
- Toddlers incorporate social status into approach/avoidance decisions.
- Early human social status navigation differs from that of non-human primates.
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