Straka Brenda C, Stanaland Adam, Gaither Sarah E
Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, USA.
Department of Psychology, University of Richmond, Richmond, Virginia, USA.
Dev Sci. 2025 Mar;28(2):e13607. doi: 10.1111/desc.13607.
As young as 3 years old, children rely on a mutual intentionality framework to confer group membership-that is, agreement between a joiner ("I want to be in your group") and group ("We want you to be in our group"). Here, we tested whether children apply this cognitive framework in the context of identity-based groups, specifically gender and race. In Study 1 (preregistered), we asked a large sample of 3-8-year-olds (N = 448; 224 girls) whether a novel joiner character (girl, boy) could join a group (girls, boys) based on joiner-group intentions (non-mutual, mutual) and joiner-group gender congruence (incongruent [e.g., girl-to-boys], congruent [e.g., girl-to-girls]). Study 2 (preregistered; N = 433; 208 minoritized race) followed the same structure as Study 1 but instead varied the race of the joiner (Black, White) and group (Black, White). In both studies, participants as young as 3 years old relied on a mutual intentionality framework to confer group membership. This effect strengthened with age, replicating past work and newly showing that children rely on mutual intentions in the context of identity-based groups. An exploratory integrative data analysis (IDA) comparing across studies revealed that participants additionally relied on joiner-group gender congruence to confer group membership as young as 3 years old (Study 1) but did not rely on joiner-group racial congruence until 5 years old (Study 2). It appears, then, that young children's determination of group membership is influenced by interactive cognitive processes that incorporate others' mental processes (intentions) and their emerging understanding of the social world (identity-based group boundaries).
年仅3岁的儿童就依靠一种相互意向性框架来赋予群体成员身份，也就是说，加入者（“我想加入你们的群体”）和群体（“我们希望你加入我们的群体”）之间达成一致。在此，我们测试了儿童是否会在基于身份的群体（特别是性别和种族）背景下应用这种认知框架。在研究1（预先注册）中，我们询问了一大群3至8岁的儿童（N = 448；224名女孩），一个新的加入者角色（女孩、男孩）是否可以基于加入者与群体的意向（非相互、相互）以及加入者与群体的性别一致性（不一致[例如，女孩加入男孩群体]、一致[例如，女孩加入女孩群体]）加入一个群体（女孩群体、男孩群体）。研究2（预先注册；N = 433；208名少数族裔）采用了与研究1相同的结构，但改变了加入者（黑人、白人）和群体（黑人、白人）的种族。在两项研究中，年仅3岁的参与者都依靠相互意向性框架来赋予群体成员身份。这种效应随着年龄的增长而增强，重复了过去的研究结果，并新表明儿童在基于身份的群体背景下依赖相互意向。一项跨研究的探索性综合数据分析（IDA）显示，参与者在年仅3岁时（研究1）就额外依靠加入者与群体的性别一致性来赋予群体成员身份，但直到5岁时（研究2）才依靠加入者与群体的种族一致性。那么，似乎幼儿对群体成员身份的判定受到互动认知过程的影响，这些过程纳入了他人的心理过程（意图）以及他们对社会世界（基于身份的群体边界）的逐渐理解。
