Kids attend to saliva sharing to infer social relationships

• One of the great tasks of child development is to make sense of other people’s behavior by appealing to their internal thoughts, beliefs, and desires [“intuitive psychology” (1)], as well as the groups and relationships that they are a part of [“intuitive sociology” (2)]. There has long been debate over the extent to which these intuitions can be learned from social experience or whether they require some evolved capacity to interpret and categorize behavior. On page 311 of this issue, Thomas et al. (3) examine children’s intuitions about so-called “thick” relationships—intimate bonds that people have with kin or romantic partners that are characterized by certain behaviors and obligations (4). The authors suggest that saliva sharing between individuals is a cue that young children use to infer thick relationships, and that these inferences are based on evolutionary processes that have shaped how young children interpret the social world.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Psykologi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Psychology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

saliva sharing

child development

thick relationships

intimate bonds

psykologi

Psychology

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)