中道, 圭人

NAKAMICHI, Keito

同調

内集団バイアス

社会的認知

young children

conformity

in-group bias

social cognition

[SUMMARY] Young children may conform to the opinions of adults and other children. In this study, we examined the effects of group composition on young children’s conforming. Preschoolers（ Experiment １: 40 children, M = 66.88 months ; Experiment ２: 20 children, M = 67.55 months） were assigned to some conditions with different group compositions:（1） the “in-group condition” in which all four children were in the same group,（2） the “out-group condition” in which only the target children were in a separate group, and （3） the “equal number condition” in which the groups consisted of two members each. Preschoolers participated in a conforming experiment. The results showed that approximately 40% of the young children in this study conformed to other children. Moreover, young children tended to conform to other children in the out-group condition more than in the in-group or same-number conditions. This study suggests that young children may be attuned to maintain homogeneity between themselves and the group. Furthermore, they indicate that the feeling of acceptance from peers may contribute to their proactive decision-making.