The Development of Conformity Among Chinese Children Aged 9a??15 Years in a Public Choice Task:

摘要

Both children and adults exhibit moderate conformity behaviors when facing group pressure. While some studies purport that children conform more with age, others have shown the opposite. The publicity of decision-making might be a major factor influencing the development of childrena??s conformity behavior. In this study, we recruited 295 Chinese children aged 9a??15 years. We observed no significant correlation between childrena??s age and conformity behaviors when their answers were kept confidential. However, older children showed stronger conformity behaviors when their answers were made public. According to cultural evolutionary theory, with age, children find group acceptance and social recognition increasingly more important, which explains why older children are more likely to conforma??namely, doing so has adaptive value. Further research should explore the cross-cultural coherence of this phenomenon and the genuine motivation behind childrena??s conformity behaviors. Meanwhile, designing a more reliable and valid experiment would also be a fruitful direction.