?Preschool children quickly understand individual behaviors and spontaneous actions of others as generalizable, governed by rules, and binding?, states Marco F. H. Schmidt. For parents, whose activities are observed by their children on a day-to-day basis, this eagerness to learn may be good and bad news: it may unintentionally result in teaching them ?rules?, which do not exist. (bokan/fotolia)
Three-year-olds quickly absorb social norms. They even understand behaviors as rule-governed that are not subject to any norms, and insist that others adhere to these self-inferred 'norms', a study by LMU psychologist MarcoF.H. Schmidt reveals. Children should say "hello" and "thank you", share and not snatch anyone's bucket out of their hand. From an early age, they learn from adults the rules that determine everyday social interactions. These norms are like a "social glue" and have played a key role in the evolution and maintenance of human cooperation and culture, states Dr. MarcoF.H. Schmidt , Head of the "Developmental Origins of Human Normativity" research group at LMU Munich.
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