3-186 - The Influence of Ownership in Preschoolers’ Decisions About Object Transactions

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Ownership of objects influences preschoolers’ decision-making, object valuation, and memory (e.g., Cunninghamn, Vergunst, & Turk, 2013; Gelman, Manczak, Noles, 2012; Harbaugh, Krause, & Vesterlund, 2001). Preschool-aged children are quite sophisticated in reasoning about owned property. For instance, they draw on multiple cues to infer who own what (e.g., Blake & Harris, 2009; Friedman & Neary, 2008; Kanngiesser, Gjersoe & Hood, 2010) and recognize and uphold people’s ownership rights (e.g., Kim & Kalish, 2009; Rossano, Rakoczy, & Tomasello, 2011).

The four papers in this symposium investigate the effects of ownership and property claims on children’s reasoning about different kinds of transactions—events where property is exchanged, given, or taken. The first paper investigates preschoolers’ judgments about whether owned objects are fully interchangeable. The second paper explores gift-exchanges and the role of gratitude in young children’s and adults’ expectations of reciprocity. The third paper focuses on the evolutionary origins of how work-effort may justify claims over property in young children and chimpanzees. And the final paper further investigates the impact of work-effort on 4- and 6-year-olds’ object valuation and distribution of objects.

Sub Unit

• Cognitive Processes

Chairs

• Patricia Kanngiesser, Max Planck Inst for Evol Anthropology

• Federico Rossano, Max Planck Inst for Evol Anthropology

Individual Presentations

• Preschoolers’ Judgments About the Interchangeability of Owned Property - Presenting Author: Ori Friedman, University of Waterloo; Stephanie McEwan, University of Waterloo

• Gratitude and Gift-Giving - Presenting Author: Nicholaus Noles, University of Louisville

• Work Effort and Respect for Property Claims in Great Apes and Preschoolers - Presenting Author: Federico Rossano, Max Planck Inst for Evol Anthropology; Patricia Kanngiesser, Max Planck Inst for Evol Anthropology; Michael Tomasello, Max Planck Institute

• The Emergence of Effort Justification in Preschool Children - Presenting Author: Avi Benozio, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology; Gil Diesendruck, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan