Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 119, Issue 32, Pages -Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2105642119
Keywords
theory of mind; reputation management; communication; social cognition
Categories
Funding
- James S. McDonnell Scholar Award
- Jacobs Foundation Early Career Research Fellowship
- NSF Graduate Research Fellowship
Ask authors/readers for more resources
This study investigates young children's ability to infer and revise others' mental representation of the self. The results show that children selectively and strategically present self-relevant information to revise the partner's outdated, negative representation of the self. This demonstrates the sophistication of early self-presentational behaviors.
We care about what others think of us and often try to present ourselves in a good light. What cognitive capacities underlie our ability to think (or even worry) about reputation, and how do these concerns manifest as strategic self-presentational behaviors? Even though the tendency to modify one's behaviors in the presence of others emerges early in life, the degree to which these behaviors reflect a rich understanding of what others think about the self has remained an open question. Bridging prior work on reputation management, communication, and theory of mind development in early childhood, here we investigate young children's ability to infer and revise others' mental representation of the self. Across four experiments, we find that 3- and 4-y-old children's decisions about to whom to communicate (Experiment 1), what to communicate (Experiments 2 and 3), and which joint activity to engage in with a partner (Experiment 4) are systematically influenced by the partner's observations of the children's own past performance. Children in these studies chose to present self-relevant information selectively and strategically when it could revise the partner's outdated, negative representation of the self. Extending research on children's ability to engage in informative communication, these results demonstrate the sophistication of early self-presentational behaviors: Even young children can draw rich inferences about what others think of them and communicate self-relevant information to revise these representations.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available