Children Use Nonverbal Cues to Make Inferences About Social Power

Abstract

Four studies (N = 192) tested whether young children use nonverbal information to make inferences about differences in social power. Five- and six-year-old children were able to determine which of two adults was "in charge" in dynamic videotaped conversations (Study 1) and in static photographs (Study 4) using only nonverbal cues. Younger children (3-4 years) were not successful in Study 1 or Study 4. Removing irrelevant linguistic information from conversations did not improve the performance of 3- to 4-year-old children (Study 3), but including relevant linguistic cues did (Study 2). Thus, at least by 5 years of age, children show sensitivity to some of the same nonverbal cues adults use to determine other people's social roles.