ABSTRACT
Children attach to objects for many reasons. Early research on object attachment focused primarily on infants and toddlers and their attachment to soft objects as a source of security, but this review reveals that children of all ages attach to a variety of objects and with a variety of motivations. This review also introduces the concept of transitory object attachments, in which children quickly attach to an object but un-attach almost as quickly. Repeated transitory object attachments are manifest as materialism. After a discussion of motivations for object attachment generally, the review focuses on the insecurities of childhood that can foster transitory object attachments and materialism in children.
Subject(s)
Motivation , Object Attachment , Humans , InfantABSTRACT
People can get most of their needs broadly satisfied in two ways: by close communal ties and by dealings with people in the marketplace. These modes of relating-termed communal and market-often necessitate qualitatively different motives, behaviors, and mind-sets. We reasoned that activating market mode would produce behaviors consistent with it and impair behaviors consistent with communal mode. In a series of experiments, money-the market-mode cue-was presented to Polish children ages 3 to 6. We measured communal behavior by prosocial helpfulness and generosity and measured market behavior by performance and effort. Results showed that handling money (compared with other objects) increased laborious effort and reduced helpfulness and generosity. The effects of money primes were not due to the children's mood, liking for money, or task engagement. This work is the first to demonstrate that young children tacitly understand market mode and also understand that money is a cue to shift into it.
Subject(s)
Child Behavior/psychology , Cues , Child , Child, Preschool , Humans , Residence Characteristics , Social Behavior , Socioeconomic FactorsABSTRACT
Theory of mind (ToM) allows children to achieve success in the social world by understanding others' minds. A study with 3- to 12-year-olds, however, demonstrates that gains in ToM are linked to decreases in children's desire to engage in performative behaviors associated with health and well-being, such as singing and dancing. One hundred and fifty-nine middle-class children from diverse backgrounds in a Northeastern U.S. metropolitan area completed the study in 2011. The development of ToM is associated with decreases in self-esteem, which in turn predicts decreases in children's willingness to perform. This shift away from performance begins at age 4 (when ToM begins to develop), years before children enter puberty.
