title: Children's capacity to use cultural focal points in coordination problems.
abstract: Coordination problems require one to act based on expectations about how partners will act. In Experiment 1, 5-year-olds (n=57) had to hide a sticker in the box another child from their, or a different, culture was most likely to search in. Boxes were marked with cues presumed to be known by everybody, cultural members, or the child. Experiment 2 assessed 5-year-olds' (n=57) behavior in a competition scenario. In Experiment 1, children were more likely to hide in the cultural box when playing with a same- than a different-culture partner. In Experiment 2, children's behavior was the opposite. Thus by age 5, children are capable of modulating their actions in coordination problems, according to their partners' presumed knowledge.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Gonda Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Israel.
authors.forename: Efrat
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Goldvicht-Bacon
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Gonda Brain Research Center, Bar-Ilan University, Israel. Electronic address: dieseng@mail.biu.ac.il.
authors.forename: Gil
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Diesendruck
mesh_terms: D002675:Child, Preschool; D003163:Competitive Behavior; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D005717:Games, Experimental; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D019359:Knowledge; D008297:Male; D012919:Social Behavior
keywords: Children; Common knowledge; Cooperation/competition; Coordination problem; Cultural group membership; Focal points