Relations Between Language Exposure and Social Behavior in Childhood
Date
2020-05
Authors
Arreola, Aleyda
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Abstract
Previous studies have examined children’s sensitivity to language when forming social
preferences, but less research had examined how a social partner’s language influences
children’s sharing behaviors, or if language-based preferences are evident amongst
bilingual children. The goal of the current study was to understand how language-based
social preferences in early childhood (ages 4-7 years) affect monolingual and bilingual
children’s choices to engage in the prosocial behavior of sharing. The study consisted of
a paradigm in which children were shown scenarios of four different language pairings of
two speakers:(1) native-accented English vs. Spanish, (2) native-accented English vs.
Spanish-accented English, (3) Bilingual vs. native-accented English, and (4) Bilingual vs.
Spanish, and were asked to share 5 pretend food items between the two speakers. Results
indicate that monolingual children preferred other native monolingual speakers but that
bilingual children showed no preferences. There were no relations between age and the
magnitude of children’s preferences. These findings extend our knowledge of in-group
biases in early childhood, with implications for conceptualizing language as a group
marker.
Description
Keywords
Language, Childhood
Citation
Arreola, A. (2020). <i>Relations between language exposure and social behavior in childhood</i> (Unpublished thesis). Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.