Kenwei Meng, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Informatics, Nagoya University, and Tatsunori Ishii, Associate Professor, Faculty of Human and Social Sciences, Japan Women's University, show that children aged 5 to 6 tend to associate transcendental abilities such as psychic powers with social superiority. , Waseda University's Faculty of Science and Engineering Special Researcher Kairi Sugimoto and Kyoto University Graduate School of Letters Graduate School of Letters Associate Professor Yusuke Moriguchi's joint research.
According to Nagoya University, the research group asked 41 5- to 6-year-old children how normal people would walk to their destination or light a fire with a lighter, and how psychics would fly to their destination and talk. I showed him how to blow fire from a fire and ignite it, and asked which person surprised me and felt that he was a great person.As a result, most infants named psychics.
Next, the eccentrics were shown crawling to their destinations, setting fire with their shoes, and compared with normal people.As a result, most of the young children showed surprise at the eccentric, but did not think the eccentric was great.Surprise was not a criterion for social superiority.
Furthermore, 53 children aged 5 to 6 were shown a scene in which an ordinary person walked to a destination and lit a fire with a lighter, and a scene in which a psychic flew to the destination and ignited by blowing fire from his mouth. They were surprised at which person they were, and asked which one they thought was stronger and which one they thought was better.
Most of the infants were surprised by the psychics and answered that psychics are strong, but when asked which one is better, they chose ordinary people.The results confirm that infants do not indiscriminately evaluate transcendental abilities positively.
From these experimental results, the research group concludes that from the age of 5 or 6, children tend to recognize the social superiority of transcendental beings.
Paper information:【Cognition】Children attribute higher social status to people who have extraordinary capabilities
