论文部分内容阅读
It is important for young children to understand other’s social power in everyday lives.This will help them to understand and interact better with other people.The present study is aimed to examine 4-to 6-year-old children’s ability in using verbal and nonverbal cues to determine other’s social power,which cues help them in making the decision,and characteristics of the children’s ability development in this area.There were two nonverbal and one verbal cues used in this study(visual,auditory,and content).Study 1 was designed to investigate which cues that 4-to 6-year-old children use to determine one’s social power.A total of 478 Chinese children were participated.They were shown five videos and were asked to determine which actor has a higher social power.There were two actors in each video;one of the actors exhibited cues associated with high social power and the other exhibited cues associated with low social power.Results showed that with the increase of age,children’s ability to determine one’s social power got better.Four-year-old children benefited more from auditory cue,whereas 5-and 6-year-old children benefited more from visual auditory cues.Four-to 6-year-old children were having difficulty to rely on content cue to judge other’s social power.Study 2 investigated whether 4-to 6-year-old children could benefit from content cue in judging social power in normal and slow speaking tempo condition.A total of 240 Chinese children were participated.They were shown five videos in which 2 cartoon photographs were having a conversation in each video and had to determine which one had more power based on their conversation.The findings showed that 4-year-old children could not use content cue,whereas 5-and 6-year-old children could use content cue to determine other’s social power.Study 3 investigated which visual cues that 5-and 6-year-old children used to determine social power.A total of 80 Chinese children were participated.They were shown 8 photographs which consisted of 2 models in each photograph.They had to give responses based on the visual cues exhibited by the models.Results showed that 5-and 6-year-old children benefited most when mixed cues(head,eye,and posture)were presented.They were least sensitive to eye and posture cues.The present study suggests that with the increase of age,children’s ability development in determining other’s social power got better,with 5-and 6-year-old children can use visual,auditory,and content cues,whereas 4-year-old children rely more on auditory cue.