Listen to Your Mother: Children Use Hierarchical Social Roles to Guide Their Judgments about People

Social categories are often defined by the boundaries that they form between individuals. However, many social structures describe complementary relationships between individuals, defining both the power that we hold over others and our obligations to them and vice versa. In two studies conducted in the U.S., we investigated a sample of primarily white, middle class children’s intuitions about social roles at ages 4, 5, and 6. In Experiment 1, participants were presented with two informants, one dominant (e.g., a mother) and one subordinate (e.g., a daughter). The informants gave conflicting instructions, and children determined whose instructions should be followed and which informant had more social power. Five- and 6-year-olds, but not 4 -year-olds, used social roles to determine which instructions should be followed, and children in all age groups selected the dominant informant as someone who held social power. In Experiment 2, we explored the breadth of this effect by having the same informants present conflicting information about food. Five- and 6-year-old participants trusted claims made by a dominant informant, but 4-year-olds did not prioritize claims made by either informant. At the same time, when asked who they would approach to learn about a new food, children did not prefer either informant. Together, these findings suggest that children’s understanding of hierarchical social roles emerges at a young age, changes over time, and influences their judgments in nuanced ways.