More power, more freedom: 4- to 8-year-old children approve of powerful group members’ non-conformity

• In Event: When it’s okay not to conform: The development of a context-sensitive concern for conformity

Abstract

Humans reinforce group conformity (e.g., Rakoczy et al., 2008). Members who deviate from group norms are evaluated negatively by both adults and children (e.g., Roberts et al., 2016 & 2017). However, social groups are often structured into hierarchies, where some members possess more power than others. It is not well researched whether social power renders people the privilege to behave differently from the group. Here, we investigate young children’s evaluations of powerful vs. ordinary members’ non-conforming behaviors, and whether culture influences these evaluative judgments.

Study 1 examined whether American children would be more likely to approve non-conforming behaviors performed by a powerful than an ordinary group member. We adapted the procedure from Roberts et al. (2017) and introduced 66 4- to 8-year-old American children to two novel groups (Hibbles and Glerks). The two groups engaged in three pairs of contrasting behaviors (e.g., listening to different kinds of music). Next, children were presented with a member of a group who acted against its group norms (e.g., a Hibble listening to music more typical of Glerks). For half of the children, the non-conforming group member was bigger than other Hibbles and “is in charge of other Hibbles” (power condition), whereas this individual was identical to its group members for the other half of the children (control condition). Children were asked to evaluate the non-conforming group member. We measured (1) the frequency with which children evaluated the non-conforming behaviors as “good” and (2) the degree of their evaluations (e.g., “Is it a little good, pretty good or very, very good?”).

Results showed that American children demonstrated higher approval frequency of the non-conforming behaviors of the powerful (M= 0.58, SD= 0.49) than the ordinary (M= 0.31, SD= 0.47) target, F(1, 71) = 4.20, p= .04. Moreover, children evaluated the non-conforming behaviors of the powerful target (M= 3.79, SD= 1.84) more positively than the ordinary target (M= 3.01, SD= 1.51), t(63) = 2.58, p= .01 (Figure 1). These results indicate that American children as young as age 4 consider social power in their evaluative judgments of non-conformity, and they tend to approve of powerful group members’ deviating behaviors.

In Study 2, we investigated the generalizability of our results in China, a society with a robust hierarchical structure that is being valued and justified more than the US. We recruited 87 four- to eight-year-old Chinese children (43 girls). Replicating Study 1, Chinese children also showed higher approval frequency of the non-conforming behaviors performed by the powerful (M= 0.31, SD=0.50) than the ordinary (M= 0.22, SD= 0.40) target, F(1, 79)=7.66, p=.03. In addition, they evaluated the non-conforming behaviors of the powerful target more positively (M= 3.71, SD= 1.92) than the ordinary target (M= 2.62, SD= 1.44), t(81)= 3.45, p< .01 (Figure 2).

Taken together, 4- to 8-year-old children in both the U.S. and China tend to approve more of the non-conforming behaviors performed by powerful than ordinary group members, suggesting that social power suppress children’s normative expectations.

Authors

• Yuchen Tian, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  Presenting Author

• Lin Bian, University of Chicago
  Non-Presenting Author