title: Preschoolers use common ground in their justificatory reasoning with peers.
abstract: In the context of joint decision-making, we investigated whether preschoolers alter the informativeness of their justifications depending on the common ground that they share with their partner. Pairs of 3- and 5-year-olds (N = 146) were introduced to a novel animal with unique characteristics (e.g., eating rocks). In the common ground condition, the children learned about the animal together. In the one-expert condition, one learned about it, the other was naïve. In the two-experts condition, children learned about it separately. Later, the pairs had to decide together on 3 items that the novel animal might need. Both age groups referred to the unique characteristics of the animal in their justifications more in the 2 conditions without common ground than in the common ground condition. Thus, preschoolers begin to use common ground flexibly in their justifications and reason-giving in peer interactions.
authors.affiliation: School of Psychological Sciences, University of Manchester.
authors.forename: Bahar
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Köymen
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mammen
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tomasello
mesh_terms: D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D010379:Peer Group