What Should I Do? Behavior Regulation by Language and Paralanguage in Early Childhood

Abstract

This article explores the functional significance of affective messages for behavior in early childhood. Previous research indicates that children's affective judgments are influenced more by what is said than by how it is said. Of particular interest is the extent to which this tendency toward literal interpretation has real consequences for behavior. The effect of consistent and conflicting affective messages on child behavior was assessed in a social-referencing procedure. What was said had a stronger effect than facial and vocal paralanguage on children's exploration of novel objects. This suggests that the lexical bias evident in children's interpretations reflects a genuine developmental transition in the primary cues on which attributions are based, and these cues have direct consequences for behavior regulation.

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