Poster #94 - Is Knowledge Status? Children believe smart people are wealthy, leaders, and influencers of social change

• In Event: Poster Session 06

Abstract

Francis Bacon once said that “knowledge is power.” This phrase emphasizes the importance of education on one’s future success. Previous research shows that children believe powerful people will know information (Bernard et al., 2016) and parents and children believe that academic success is related to attaining higher status occupations (Harden et al., 2012). Enright et al. (2020) has demonstrated that as children develop, they show an increasing understanding of social status which informs their judgements. However, these findings are more consistent with the idea that power leads to knowledge, rather than the other way around. Thus, the goal of the current study is to investigate whether children believe knowledgeability begets social status and power. We asked 7-12-year-old children (n=101) and adults (n=12) to make judgements about a “smart” individual (i.e., knowledge confers power and social status) compared to a “strong” individual (i.e., physical power confers social power and status). Participants were shown twins, one who was smart and the other strong. Participants then selected one brother on three questions for each of the following dimensions: Wealth (e.g., who was paid more money), Prestige (e.g., whose video would be watched), Leadership (e.g., who was elected president of a club), Permission (e.g., who told someone they could eat with them), and Social Influence (e.g., who convinced more people to recycle). Lastly, participants were asked which of the two brothers was the boss. A 5 (Question Type: Wealth, Prestige, Leadership, Permission, Social Influence) X 4 (Age Group: ages 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, and adults) repeated measures ANOVA was conducted with Question Type as a within-subjects factor and Age Group as a between-subjects factor. We found an interaction of Question Type and Age group, F(12,436)=2.62, p=.002, partial η2=.07. Children ages 7- to 8-years selected the smart person on wealth items significantly less than 9-10-year-olds and adults (p<.03), but significantly more on permission items than adults (p<.03), see Figure 1. Additionally, 7-8-year-olds selected the smart person significantly more on leadership items than wealth, prestige, and permission items (ps<.03). Nine- to 10-year-olds selected the smart individual more on wealth, leadership, and social influence items than prestige and permission items (ps<.01). The oldest age groups (11-12 year olds and adults) showed similar patterns of results where the smart person was selected more than the strong person on leadership items than prestige, and permission items (ps<.01). Participants overall selected the smart individual more than the strong one at a rates greater than chance on Wealth, Leadership, and Social Influence items, ps<.001, ds>.60, see Figure 2. Additionally, 77% of participants, significantly more than chance, t(112)=6.79, p<.001, d=.64, indicated the smart person was the boss. These results suggest that children infer that smart people are bosses, and thus have social power and status. Additionally, children responded that the smart person would be wealthy, a leader, and exercise social influence more than the strong person. Children attribute social status to knowledgeable people in nuanced ways with only certain facets of social status being affiliated with knowledgeability.

Authors

• Megan Norris, University of Louisville
  Presenting Author

• Nicholaus Noles, University of Louisville