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Why Children Believe They Are Owned.
Christina Starmans1, Ori Friedman2
1Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Open Mind : Discoveries in Cognitive Science
|August 28, 2023
Summary
Children aged 4-7 believe parents own their children, not themselves. This ownership belief stems from children
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Development
- Moral Psychology
- Social Cognition
Background:
- Adults typically view autonomous beings as non-owned, influencing property perceptions.
- Children's understanding of ownership, autonomy, and parental power is crucial for self-perception.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether children apply autonomy principles to ownership judgments of living beings.
- To explore children's beliefs about parental ownership and its relation to autonomy.
Main Methods:
- Three experiments involving 206 children aged 4-7 years.
- Children judged ownership of children, adults, domesticated animals, and wild animals.
- Examined judgments based on parental authority and decision-making.
Main Results:
- Children consistently affirmed that children are owned by their parents.
- Ownership judgments differentiated between children, adults, domesticated, and wild animals.
- Reduced ownership perception when children acted against parental authority.
Conclusions:
- Children spontaneously use autonomy principles to reason about ownership of living entities.
- Children's ownership beliefs about themselves may be influenced by perceived lack of autonomy and parental power.
- Findings suggest children's developing concepts of ownership and autonomy shape their self-view.
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