Hardecker Susanne, Tomasello Michael
Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany.
Br J Dev Psychol. 2017 Jun;35(2):237-248. doi: 10.1111/bjdp.12159. Epub 2016 Sep 22.
Young children enforce social norms from early on, but little research has examined how this enforcement behaviour emerges. This study investigated whether observing an adult's norm enforcement influences children's own enforcement of that norm compared with observing an action demonstration without enforcement. Additionally, children experienced enforcement either following their own (second-party) or a third-party's transgression (N = 120). Results revealed that observing enforcement increased two- and three-year-old children's protest against the sanctioned action regardless of second- or third-party context. However, only three-year-olds generalized their enforcement to a novel action not matching the norm, whereas two-year-olds only protested against the previously sanctioned action. Importantly, without any enforcement demonstration, two-year-olds rarely protested at all while three-year-olds did so quite frequently. Thus, providing an opportunity to imitate enforcement seems to give rise to enforcement behaviour in two-year-olds while three-year-olds already understand normative implications following a variety of cues and even apply norm enforcement without any demonstration of how to do it. Statement of contribution What is already known on this subject? Children conform to social norms from early in development. Young children from 2 to 3 years of age also enforce social norms on third parties. What does this study add? Observing enforcement by an adult increases two- and three-year-olds' protest against the sanctioned action. It does not matter whether children experienced enforcement on their own or a third party's action. Three-, but not two-year-olds, generalize their enforcement to novel actions that do not match the norm.
幼儿从早期就开始执行社会规范，但很少有研究探讨这种执行行为是如何出现的。本研究调查了观察成人的规范执行与观察无执行行为的动作示范相比，是否会影响儿童对该规范的自身执行。此外，儿童在自己（第二方）或第三方违规后经历了规范执行（N = 120）。结果显示，无论在第二方还是第三方情境下，观察规范执行都会增加两岁和三岁儿童对被制裁行为的抗议。然而，只有三岁儿童将他们的规范执行推广到与规范不匹配的新行为上，而两岁儿童只对之前被制裁的行为提出抗议。重要的是，在没有任何规范执行示范的情况下，两岁儿童很少提出抗议，而三岁儿童则经常这样做。因此，提供模仿规范执行的机会似乎会引发两岁儿童的规范执行行为，而三岁儿童已经能从各种线索中理解规范的含义，甚至在没有任何如何执行规范的示范的情况下也会应用规范执行。贡献声明关于这个主题已经知道了什么？儿童从发育早期就开始遵守社会规范。2到3岁的幼儿也会对第三方执行社会规范。这项研究增加了什么？观察成人的规范执行会增加两岁和三岁儿童对被制裁行为的抗议。儿童经历的是自己还是第三方的行为被执行规范并不重要。三岁儿童而非两岁儿童会将他们的规范执行推广到与规范不匹配的新行为上。
