Young children apply the homophily principle to their reasoning about social relationships.
- 1 May 2023
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Psychological Association (APA) in Developmental Psychology
- Vol. 59 (5), 928-939
- https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0001517
Abstract
People who are in close relationships tend to do and like the same things, a phenomenon termed the "homophily principle. " The present research probed for evidence of the homophily principle in 4- to 6-year-old children. Across two experiments, participants (N = 327; 166 girls, 161 boys; located in the Midwestern United States) were asked to predict the closeness of two people based on their preferences. Participants in Experiment 1 indicated that people with a shared preference or a shared dispreference were more closely affiliated than people whose preferences diverged, suggesting inferences of homophily. Furthermore, children were not only relying on the emotional valences expressed: They expected people with a shared preference to be closer than people who expressed positive emotions about different items and expected people with a shared dispreference to be closer than people who expressed negative emotions about different items. Experiment 2 replicated and extended the main findings of Experiment 1 with more naturalistic stimuli. The present studies provide strong evidence that young children apply the homophily principle to their reasoning about social relationships.Funding Information
- National Science Foundation (1941648, 1941756, DGE 1746045)
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01 HD070890)
- National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (U54 HD090256)
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