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Children's judgements of positive claims people make about themselves
Author(s) -
Amemiya Jamie,
Liu Zipei,
Compton Brian J.,
Heyman Gail D.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
infant and child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.87
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1522-7219
pISSN - 1522-7227
DOI - 10.1002/icd.2212
Subject(s) - psychology , reputation , context (archaeology) , social psychology , developmental psychology , social science , sociology , paleontology , biology
Abstract As children learn how to manage their reputation, they must assess when it is appropriate to make positive claims about themselves. To navigate this challenge effectively, they need to learn that these statements can have reputational costs as well as benefits. Although it is well established that children develop this understanding during middle childhood, it is not known whether they understand that the costs depend on the social context in which the communication takes place. The present study addresses this question by examining whether children ages 6‐ to 10‐year‐old ( N = 83) evaluate positive statements people make about themselves more favourably when the statements can plausibly be interpreted as implicit offers of help. The results showed that 9‐ to 10‐year‐olds showed context sensitivity, but 6‐ to 7‐year‐olds made consistently positive ratings regardless of context.