TY - JOUR
T1 - Children imitate antisocial in-group members
AU - Wilks, Matti
AU - Kirby, James
AU - Nielsen, Mark
N1 - Funding Information:
Australian Research Council Discovery Project and an Australian Government Research Training Program Stipend (DP140101410)
Funding Information:
Funding information Australian Research Council Discovery Project and an Australian Government Research Training Program Stipend (DP140101410) We thank the children and parents at the Early Cognitive Development Centre and the Queensland Museum for their participation in this experiment. We thank Melanie Killen for feedback on earlier versions of this draft. We also thank the demonstrators for their time in creating the stimuli. This study was supported by an Australian Research Council Discovery Project and an Australian Government Research Training Program Stipend (DP140101410).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
PY - 2018/11
Y1 - 2018/11
N2 - Children demonstrate a pervasive in-group bias, preferring their in-group across a range of contexts that encompass measures of liking, imitation, and, in some cases, resource allocation. A growing number of studies have begun to explore whether antisocial in-group behavior reduces the robustness of this bias. However, these studies have focused on transgression evaluations, with only two studies focusing on social learning and none explicitly on imitation. This, therefore, limits the extent to which children's responses to interaction between in-group bias and antisocial behavior can be fully understood. The current research expands on the prevailing literature, utilizing imitation as a behavioral measure to explore the reactions of children aged 4–5 and 7–8 years in response to antisocial in-group behavior. Consistent with previous literature, antisocial in-group behavior reduced in-group liking ratings. Surprisingly, however, children's behavioral imitation preferences were guided solely by group membership, disregarding prosocial or antisocial behavior. These results indicate that children's explicitly reported social preferences and imitative preferences may be motivated by two independent drives.
AB - Children demonstrate a pervasive in-group bias, preferring their in-group across a range of contexts that encompass measures of liking, imitation, and, in some cases, resource allocation. A growing number of studies have begun to explore whether antisocial in-group behavior reduces the robustness of this bias. However, these studies have focused on transgression evaluations, with only two studies focusing on social learning and none explicitly on imitation. This, therefore, limits the extent to which children's responses to interaction between in-group bias and antisocial behavior can be fully understood. The current research expands on the prevailing literature, utilizing imitation as a behavioral measure to explore the reactions of children aged 4–5 and 7–8 years in response to antisocial in-group behavior. Consistent with previous literature, antisocial in-group behavior reduced in-group liking ratings. Surprisingly, however, children's behavioral imitation preferences were guided solely by group membership, disregarding prosocial or antisocial behavior. These results indicate that children's explicitly reported social preferences and imitative preferences may be motivated by two independent drives.
U2 - 10.1111/desc.12675
DO - 10.1111/desc.12675
M3 - Article
C2 - 29691975
AN - SCOPUS:85046376975
SN - 1363-755X
VL - 21
JO - Developmental Science
JF - Developmental Science
IS - 6
M1 - e12675
ER -