TY - JOUR
T1 - Social Categories as Markers of Intrinsic Interpersonal Obligations
AU - Rhodes, Marjorie
AU - Chalik, Lisa
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding was provided by National Science Foundation Grant BCS-1226942 to Marjorie Rhodes.
PY - 2013/6
Y1 - 2013/6
N2 - Social categorization is an early-developing feature of human social cognition, yet the role that social categories play in children's understanding of and predictions about human behavior has been unclear. In the studies reported here, we tested whether a foundational functional role of social categories is to mark people as intrinsically obligated to one another (e.g., obligated to protect rather than harm). In three studies, children (aged 3-9, N = 124) viewed only within-category harm as violating intrinsic obligations; in contrast, they viewed between-category harm as violating extrinsic obligations defined by explicit rules. These data indicate that children view social categories as marking patterns of intrinsic interpersonal obligations, suggesting that a key function of social categories is to support inferences about how people will relate to members of their own and other groups.
AB - Social categorization is an early-developing feature of human social cognition, yet the role that social categories play in children's understanding of and predictions about human behavior has been unclear. In the studies reported here, we tested whether a foundational functional role of social categories is to mark people as intrinsically obligated to one another (e.g., obligated to protect rather than harm). In three studies, children (aged 3-9, N = 124) viewed only within-category harm as violating intrinsic obligations; in contrast, they viewed between-category harm as violating extrinsic obligations defined by explicit rules. These data indicate that children view social categories as marking patterns of intrinsic interpersonal obligations, suggesting that a key function of social categories is to support inferences about how people will relate to members of their own and other groups.
KW - cognitive development
KW - intuitive theories
KW - social categorization
KW - social cognition
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84878777027&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1177/0956797612466267
DO - 10.1177/0956797612466267
M3 - Article
C2 - 23613213
AN - SCOPUS:84878777027
SN - 0956-7976
VL - 24
SP - 999
EP - 1006
JO - Psychological Science
JF - Psychological Science
IS - 6
ER -