Zhang Peng, Zhang Yibin, Mu Zhaoran, Liu Xiangping
1 Department of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
2 Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, Beijing, China.
Evol Psychol. 2017 Oct-Dec;15(4):1474704917743637. doi: 10.1177/1474704917743637.
Both children and adults exhibit moderate conformity behaviors when facing group pressure. While some studies purport that children conform more with age, others have shown the opposite. The publicity of decision-making might be a major factor influencing the development of children's conformity behavior. In this study, we recruited 295 Chinese children aged 9-15 years. We observed no significant correlation between children's age and conformity behaviors when their answers were kept confidential. However, older children showed stronger conformity behaviors when their answers were made public. According to cultural evolutionary theory, with age, children find group acceptance and social recognition increasingly more important, which explains why older children are more likely to conform-namely, doing so has adaptive value. Further research should explore the cross-cultural coherence of this phenomenon and the genuine motivation behind children's conformity behaviors. Meanwhile, designing a more reliable and valid experiment would also be a fruitful direction.
儿童和成人在面对群体压力时都会表现出适度的从众行为。虽然一些研究声称儿童从众行为会随着年龄增长而增加，但其他研究则得出了相反的结论。决策的公开性可能是影响儿童从众行为发展的一个主要因素。在本研究中，我们招募了295名9至15岁的中国儿童。当儿童的答案保密时，我们观察到儿童的年龄与从众行为之间没有显著相关性。然而，当儿童的答案公开时，年龄较大的儿童表现出更强的从众行为。根据文化进化理论，随着年龄的增长，儿童越来越重视群体接纳和社会认可，这就解释了为什么年龄较大的儿童更有可能从众——也就是说，这样做具有适应性价值。进一步的研究应该探索这一现象的跨文化一致性以及儿童从众行为背后的真正动机。同时，设计一个更可靠、有效的实验也是一个富有成果的方向。
