title: So It Is, So It Shall Be: Group Regularities License Children's Prescriptive Judgments.
abstract: When do descriptive regularities (what characteristics individuals have) become prescriptive norms (what characteristics individuals should have)? We examined children's (4-13 years) and adults' use of group regularities to make prescriptive judgments, employing novel groups (Hibbles and Glerks) that engaged in morally neutral behaviors (e.g., eating different kinds of berries). Participants were introduced to conforming or non-conforming individuals (e.g., a Hibble who ate berries more typical of a Glerk). Children negatively evaluated non-conformity, with negative evaluations declining with age (Study 1). These effects were replicable across competitive and cooperative intergroup contexts (Study 2) and stemmed from reasoning about group regularities rather than reasoning about individual regularities (Study 3). These data provide new insights into children's group concepts and have important implications for understanding the development of stereotyping and norm enforcement.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Michigan.
authors.forename: Steven O
authors.initials: SO
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Michigan.
authors.forename: Susan A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Gelman
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Michigan.
authors.forename: Arnold K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Ho
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D008297:Male; D009014:Morals; D012925:Social Conformity; D066262:Social Norms; D012938:Social Perception; D013240:Stereotyping; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Cognitive development; Conformity; Group norms; Norm enforcement; Novel groups; Social cognition