Effects That Influence Children’S Trust When Nonverbal Displays Of Dominance Are A Factor.

Rebecca Kerr

School Name

Governor's School for Science and Math

Grade Level

12th Grade

Presentation Topic

Psychology and Sociology

Presentation Type

Mentored

Mentor

Mentor: Dr. Hahn; Department of Psychology, Furman University

Abstract

Much of what young children know, they learned from other people. Preschoolers, however, do not trust just anyone for information. For example, they prefer informants who are of the same gender, have the same accent, or are more attractive. This project is based on an ongoing study investigating whether 3- and 4-year-old children consider body posture when deciding whom to trust for new information. Preliminary analyses indicated that preschool boys trust people who assume a dominant or expansive posture, whereas preschool girls did not appear to show a posture preference. The goal of this project was to examine data from that study to determine if there were factors besides dominance that could have affected whom children trusted. The statistical package SPSS was used to conduct an analysis on the data collected from 39 children. The analysis found that children’s performance in the assigned task was not attributable to left-right side preferences, nor did the specific actors used in the study influence children’s choices. The data did indicate that gender mattered. Specifically, preschool boys showed a preference towards high power females over those of high power males. Moreover, it was found that children preferred to endorse the actor that they had not initially preferred. Overall, the results of this research can change the way people present themselves to children in order to acquire their trust.

Location

Owens 108

Start Date

4-16-2016 9:15 AM

COinS
 
Apr 16th, 9:15 AM

Effects That Influence Children’S Trust When Nonverbal Displays Of Dominance Are A Factor.

Owens 108

Much of what young children know, they learned from other people. Preschoolers, however, do not trust just anyone for information. For example, they prefer informants who are of the same gender, have the same accent, or are more attractive. This project is based on an ongoing study investigating whether 3- and 4-year-old children consider body posture when deciding whom to trust for new information. Preliminary analyses indicated that preschool boys trust people who assume a dominant or expansive posture, whereas preschool girls did not appear to show a posture preference. The goal of this project was to examine data from that study to determine if there were factors besides dominance that could have affected whom children trusted. The statistical package SPSS was used to conduct an analysis on the data collected from 39 children. The analysis found that children’s performance in the assigned task was not attributable to left-right side preferences, nor did the specific actors used in the study influence children’s choices. The data did indicate that gender mattered. Specifically, preschool boys showed a preference towards high power females over those of high power males. Moreover, it was found that children preferred to endorse the actor that they had not initially preferred. Overall, the results of this research can change the way people present themselves to children in order to acquire their trust.