Guest Lecture by Lori Markson

Department für Psychologie - Lehrstuhl für Entwicklungspsychologie und Pädagogische Psychologie präsentiert:

Lori Markson, PhD
Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences - Washington University in St Louis, USA

Topic: "Children's reasoning about social exclusion"

Monday, May 9th, 2016, 4pm - 6pm

Leopoldstr. 13, Room 3221

Abstract: The basic human need to belong has an evolutionary basis and is largely universal. Our intensely
social nature provides us with the motivation to seek acceptance, but also makes us vulnerable
to rejection. The awareness of and ability to evaluate social interactions appears to emerge in
infancy. Infants discriminate between positive and negatively valence interactions and even
recognize dominance hierarchies in their observations of third-party interactions. However,
there has been little research on the emergence of the motivation to seek acceptance and avoid
rejection. Research in my lab has been exploring the developmental trajectory of children’s
early reasoning about the social dynamics of inclusion and exclusion. We present 2- to 4-yearold
children with an instance of a group dynamic in which all individuals are included or a single
individual is excluded. Our results suggest that by three years of age, children begin to
differentiate between excluders and those who have been excluded based on their intentions
and interactions. The results will be discussed in the context of a broader theoretical framework
for thinking about the emergence and development of the human sensitivity to social exclusion.