Thought and language: Effects of group-mindedness on young children's interpretation of exclusive we.

Child Dev

Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA.

Published: April 2024

The current study investigated whether age-related changes in the conceptualization of social groups influences interpretation of the pronoun we. Sixty-four 2- and 4-year-olds (N = 29 female, 50 White-identifying) viewed scenarios in which it was ambiguous how many puppets performed an activity together. When asked who performed the activity, a speaker puppet responded, "We did!" In one condition, the speaker was near one and distant from another puppet, implying a dyadic interpretation of we. In another condition, the speaker was distant from both, thus pulling for a group interpretation. In the former condition, 2- and 4-year-olds favored the dyadic interpretation. In the latter condition, only 4-year-olds favored the group interpretation. Age-related conceptual development "expands" the set of conceivable plural person referents.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/cdev.14049DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

interpretation condition
12
performed activity
8
condition speaker
8
speaker distant
8
dyadic interpretation
8
group interpretation
8
condition 4-year-olds
8
4-year-olds favored
8
interpretation
6
thought language
4

Similar Publications

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!