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Happy Normativists: Do Children Express Happiness When Following Conventional Norms?
1Department of Psychology, Western Washington University, Bellingham, USA.
Developmental Science
|December 20, 2024
Summary
Children
Area of Science:
- Developmental Psychology
- Social Psychology
Background:
- Young children quickly learn and strictly follow social norms.
- Previous theories suggest children view norms as group obligations, potentially sacrificing personal desires for the collective good.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if children derive happiness from adhering to conventional norms, aligning with personal desires rather than opposing them.
- To test the hypothesis that norm adherence is intrinsically rewarding for young children.
Main Methods:
- Presented 120 4-5-year-old children with a novel apparatus.
- Children were assigned to either a 'Norm condition' (learning prescribed actions) or a 'Control condition' (choosing actions).
- Videorecorded facial expressions and collected self-reports to measure happiness during apparatus use.
Main Results:
- No significant difference in happiness was found between the norm and control conditions.
- However, happiness levels in both conditions were significantly higher than neutral.
- This suggests children experienced positive affect regardless of whether actions were prescribed or chosen.
Conclusions:
- Children's adherence to conventional norms may be intrinsically rewarding, aligning with their desires.
- The findings challenge the view that norm conformity requires sacrificing individual desires for group welfare.
- Early norm adherence might be driven by positive affect derived from the act itself.
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