Cognitive dissonance from 2 years of age? – Toddlers prefer what they previously chose

• In Event: Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Topic - Social Cognition

Abstract

As adults, our choices have an impact on our values and preferences. We do not only choose what we prefer, but we also tend to adapt our preferences post-hoc in accordance with our previous choices. This is thought to result from cognitive dissonance as an effort to reconcile our behavior with our values (Festinger, 1957). In the current study, we asked when this phenomenon develops. We reasoned that inconsistent choices and values would only cause dissonance once children have a concept of themselves that holds these values. Therefore, we hypothesized that this phenomenon might emerge between the second and third year of life when children have been argued to develop an explicit concept of the self (e.g., Rochat, 2010).
To test this, in a preregistered study, we offered N=148 children aged 16-35 months a blind choice between two equivalent objects. After this initial choice, they were given a second choice between a third new object and either the object they had initially chosen or the object they had previously discarded. Importantly, the actual objects of choice remained hidden so that any previous preference could not have influenced the child’s choice. As predicted, children showed evidence for an age-related change towards choices in line with cognitive dissonance theory in the studied age range (Bayes factor, BF10 = 7). More specifically, we found moderate evidence that 2-year-olds avoided the previously discarded object as predicted by cognitive dissonance theory (BF10 = 4.6), whereas 1-year-olds showed evidence against such a preference (BF10 = 0.2).
To test for a relation with children’s emerging self-concept, we also assessed a mirror self-cognition task and a parent questionnaire on children’s use of first-person pronouns. Here, the data showed evidence against our hypothesis that choices in line with cognitive dissonance are related with mirror self-recognition (BF10 = 0.1) or first-person pronoun use (BF10 = 0.2).
These results support that children’s choices might indeed be influenced by cognitive dissonance from around 2 years of age. Whether the emergence of this phenomenon around this age is related to other aspects of the developing self-concept requires further investigation.

Authors

• Charlotte Grosse Wiesmann, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences
  Presenting Author

• Dora Kampis, University of Copenhagen
  Non-Presenting Author

• Emilie Poulsen, University of Copenhagen
  Non-Presenting Author

• Victoria Southgate, University of Copenhagen
  Non-Presenting Author