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Journal Article

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

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Tomasello,  Michael       
Department of Developmental and Comparative Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Max Planck Society;

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Citation

Vasil, J., Price, D., & Tomasello, M. (2024). Thought and language: Effects of group‐mindedness on young children's interpretation of exclusive we. Child Development, 95(3): e155–e163, pp. 657-1040. doi:10.1111/cdev.14049.


Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/21.11116/0000-000E-1134-4
Abstract
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. © 2023 The Authors. Child Development © 2023 Society for Research in Child Development.