Preschoolers affect others' reputations through prosocial gossip.
Published
Journal Article
Providing evaluative information to others about absent third parties helps them to identify cooperators and avoid cheaters. Here, we show that 5-year-olds, but not 3-year-olds, reliably engage in such prosocial gossip. In an experimental setting, 5-year-old children spontaneously offered relevant reputational information to guide a peer towards a cooperative partner. Three-year-old children offered such evaluative information only rarely, although they still showed a willingness to inform in a non-evaluative manner. A follow-up study revealed that one component involved in this age difference is children's developing ability to provide justifications. The current results extend previous work on young children's tendency to manage their own reputation by showing that preschoolers also influence others' reputations via gossip.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Engelmann, JM; Herrmann, E; Tomasello, M
Published Date
- September 2016
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 34 / 3
Start / End Page
- 447 - 460
PubMed ID
- 27125334
Pubmed Central ID
- 27125334
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 2044-835X
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 0261-510X
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1111/bjdp.12143
Language
- eng