PLAYING WITH TRANSGRESSORS: PRESCHOOLERS CONSIDER REPUTATION AND SAFETY WHEN CHOOSING PLAYMATES
- ASU Author/Contributor (non-ASU co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Shauna R. Joyner (Creator)
- Institution
- Appalachian State University (ASU )
- Web Site: https://library.appstate.edu/
- Advisor
- Robyn Kondrad
Abstract: Preschoolers think physically mean peers are unlikely to be helpful and deserve to bepunished and excluded from play (Kondrad & Jaswal, 2013). Even after transgressors arepunished, children are unwilling to play with them. There is an adaptive explanation for thiscaution: children who recognize and avoid historically mean people are protected frompotential physical harm. Yet, children also claim that a transgressor will not misbehave againonce punished, suggesting that children believe physically mean peers are rehabilitated bypunishment. Thus, safety concerns may not be the only factor children consider whenchoosing playmates. One alternative is that preschoolers worry about their reputation if otherkids see them interacting with a known transgressor. The present study examined whetherconcerns about safety or reputation play a stronger role in 5-year-olds’ decisions aboutplaymates. Preschoolers heard 4 stories about peers who physically harmed someone andwere punished. Half of the preschoolers learned that no one else knew about thetransgressors’ behavior whereas the other half learned that everyone knew. Preschoolers thenrated on a 5-point Likert scale how much they would like to play with the transgressor if theinteraction was public or if it was private. The children also completed several Theory ofMind tasks. Contrary to expectations, children’s willingness to play with transgressors wasequally affected by safety and social concerns and was not correlated with Theory of Mind.These results suggest that children consider information relevant to safety and their ownreputation when making decisions about playmates.
PLAYING WITH TRANSGRESSORS: PRESCHOOLERS CONSIDER REPUTATION AND SAFETY WHEN CHOOSING PLAYMATES
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Created on 6/1/2016
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Honors Project
- Joyner, S.R. (2015). PLAYING WITH TRANSGRESSORS: PRESCHOOLERS CONSIDER REPUTATION AND SAFETY WHEN CHOOSING PLAYMATES. Unpublished honors thesis. Appalachian State University, Boone, NC.
- Language: English
- Date: 2015