Preschoolers' understanding of social role combinations.

Abstract

Do children understand that a person can be both someone's mother and a teacher? Research reports that young children believe a person can hold only one social role. In three experiments, this phenomenon was investigated. Four-, five-, seven-year-olds (in Experiments 1 and 2) and adults (in Experiment 3) were queried on their acceptance of combinations of kinship roles (e.g., mom and aunt), a kinship role and an occupation (e.g., mom and teacher) and two occupations (e.g., teacher and nurse). Each question was accompanied by a photograph of a person and information that the stimulus person engages in the activities of both social roles was verbally presented. Information explaining how the activities of two social roles could be coordinated was included as a variable in Experiment 1. In this experiment, children were told that the activities of each role were performed at different times or different locations, with the expectation that this information would enhance performance. In Experiment 2 I investigated whether children associate social roles with concurrent behaviors. Children were asked about simultaneous categorization (e.g., "Can she be both someone's mom and a teacher at the same time?"). Simultaneous categorization should decrease performance if children believe social roles are attributed only when behaviors are being performed. Children accepted combinations of two kinship roles or a kinship role combined with an occupation. Four- and five-year-olds' performance was variable, however, suggesting that all young children do not realize that these roles are combinable. Information coordinating the two social roles did not enhance performance in Experiment 1. In Experiment 2, performance was no different when simultaneous categorization was included in the question. Both children and adults (in Experiments 2 and 3, respectively) displayed a belief that a person has only one occupation. For adults, this belief was restricted to particular occupations. Four explanations for these findings are considered: Intercategory Similarity, Theory-based Combinations, Relational Category Combinations and a Mutual Exclusivity Hypothesis. The implications of these findings for children's understanding of social roles are discussed.