Winner of the William James Book Award “Magisterial... Makes an impressive argument that
most distinctly human traits are established early in childhood and that the general …

All human societies are permeated by collectively shared entities that govern daily social
interactions and promote coordination and cooperation: norms. While the study of norm …

Although psychologists have paid scant attention to the sense of obligation as a distinctly
human motivation, moral philosophers have identified two of its key features: First, it has a …

Abstract Language and other forms of communication are inherently ambiguous and
therefore require some form of common ground to specify the intended meanings of …

When children make a joint commitment to collaborate, obligations are created. Pairs of 3‐
year‐old children (N= 144) made a joint commitment to play a game. In three different …

Research in political psychology largely ignores early childhood. This is likely due to the
assumption that young children lack the cognitive capacity and social understanding …

Individuals in all societies conform to their cultural group's conventional norms, from how to
dress on certain occasions to how to play certain games. It is an open question, however …

Moral justifications work, when they do, by invoking values that are shared in the common
ground of the interlocutors. We asked 3-and 5-year-old peer dyads (N= 144) to identify and …

At around their third birthday, children begin to enforce social norms on others impersonally,
often using generic normative language, but little is known about the developmental building …

Much research has investigated how children relate to norms taught to them by adult
authorities. Very few studies have investigated norms that arise out of children's own peer …