Orvell Ariana, Elli Giulia, Umscheid Valerie, Simmons Ella, Kross Ethan, Gelman Susan A
Department of Psychology, Bryn Mawr College, Montgomery, Pennsylvania, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA.
Child Dev. 2023 Jan;94(1):159-171. doi: 10.1111/cdev.13846. Epub 2022 Aug 17.
A critical skill of childhood is learning social norms. We examine whether the generic pronouns "you" and "we," which frame information as applying to people in general rather than to a specific individual, facilitate this process. In one pre-registered experiment conducted online between 2020 and 2021, children 4- to 9-year-old primarily living in the midwestern U.S. (N = 146, 75 girls, 71 boys, M = 7.14, SD = 1.69, 82% White) interpreted actions described with generic pronouns (vs. "I") as normatively correct and selected the speaker who used generic pronouns as the rule-follower, particularly when generic pronouns were presented first. There were no significant effects of age. These results illustrate how generic pronouns influence how children discern unfamiliar norms and form interpersonal judgments.
儿童时期的一项关键技能是学习社会规范。我们研究了通用代词“你”和“我们”，它们将信息表述为适用于一般人而非特定个体，是否有助于这一过程。在2020年至2021年期间进行的一项在线预注册实验中，主要生活在美国中西部的4至9岁儿童（N = 146，75名女孩，71名男孩，M = 7.14，SD = 1.69，82%为白人）将用通用代词（与“我”相对）描述的行为解释为规范正确，并选择使用通用代词的说话者作为遵守规则的人，尤其是当通用代词首先出现时。年龄没有显著影响。这些结果说明了通用代词如何影响儿童辨别不熟悉的规范并形成人际判断。
