St Andrews Research Repository

St Andrews University Home
View Item 
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  •   St Andrews Research Repository
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • University of St Andrews Research
  • View Item
  • Register / Login
JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

How 2- and 4-year-old children coordinate social interactions with peers

Thumbnail
View/Open
Zuberbuehler_2022_RSBBS_How2and4Peers_AAM.pdf (1.276Mb)
Date
12/09/2022
Author
Rossano, Federico
Terwilliger, Jack
Bangerter, Adrian
Genty, Emilie
Heesen, Raphaela
Zuberbühler, Klaus
Keywords
Joint action
Children
Coordination
Interaction engine
Social relationships
BF Psychology
DAS
AC
MCC
Metadata
Show full item record
Abstract
The Interaction Engine Hypothesis postulates that humans have a unique ability and motivation for social interaction. A crucial juncture in the ontogeny of the interaction engine could be around 2–4 years of age, but observational studies of children in natural contexts are limited. These data appear critical also for comparison with non-human primates. Here, we report on focal observations on 31 children aged 2- and 4-years old in four preschools (10 h per child). Children interact with a wide range of partners, many infrequently, but with one or two close friends. Four-year olds engage in cooperative social interactions more often than 2-year olds and fight less than 2-year olds. Conversations and playing with objects are the most frequent social interaction types in both age groups. Children engage in social interactions with peers frequently (on average 13 distinct social interactions per hour) and briefly (28 s on average) and shorter than those of great apes in comparable studies. Their social interactions feature entry and exit phases about two-thirds of the time, less frequently than great apes. The results support the Interaction Engine Hypothesis, as young children manifest a remarkable motivation and ability for fast-paced interactions with multiple partners.
Citation
Rossano , F , Terwilliger , J , Bangerter , A , Genty , E , Heesen , R & Zuberbühler , K 2022 , ' How 2- and 4-year-old children coordinate social interactions with peers ' , Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences , vol. 377 , no. 1859 , 20210100 . https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0100
Publication
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Status
Peer reviewed
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0100
ISSN
0962-8436
Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2022 Publisher / the Authors. This work has been made available online in accordance with publisher policies or with permission. Permission for further reuse of this content should be sought from the publisher or the rights holder. This is the author created accepted manuscript following peer review and may differ slightly from the final published version. The final published version of this work is available at https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2021.0100
Description
This study was funded by Swiss National Science Foundation, grant no. CR31I3_166331 awarded to A.B. and K.Z., Social Science Research Grant, University of California, San Diego, Socialization in young children awarded to F.R., Yankelovich Center University of California, San Diego, A tale of two cultures awarded to F.R.
Collections
  • University of St Andrews Research
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10023/27252

Items in the St Andrews Research Repository are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.

Advanced Search

Browse

All of RepositoryCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunderThis CollectionBy Issue DateNamesTitlesSubjectsClassificationTypeFunder

My Account

Login

Open Access

To find out how you can benefit from open access to research, see our library web pages and Open Access blog. For open access help contact: openaccess@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Accessibility

Read our Accessibility statement.

How to submit research papers

The full text of research papers can be submitted to the repository via Pure, the University's research information system. For help see our guide: How to deposit in Pure.

Electronic thesis deposit

Help with deposit.

Repository help

For repository help contact: Digital-Repository@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Give Feedback

Cookie policy

This site may use cookies. Please see Terms and Conditions.

Usage statistics

COUNTER-compliant statistics on downloads from the repository are available from the IRUS-UK Service. Contact us for information.

© University of St Andrews Library

University of St Andrews is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013532.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter