FINAL-1 Mon, Jan 25, 2016 6:49:41 PM NORTH SHORE PA RENTS The Salem News Wednesday, January 27, 2016 The Salem News • NORTH SHORE PARENTS • Wednesday, January 27, 2016 S2 FINAL-1 Mon, Jan25,20166:49:42PM FINAL-1 Mon, Jan 25, 2016 6:49:43 PM S3 How do kids learn to play fair? Findings may surprise you • News Salem The BY ARIANA EUNJUNG CHA has become one of the most Both are believed to be part be the irst to look at inequity One of the two children got to co-author Katherine McAu- STAR TRIBUNE important issues of our time. of the glue that holds societies aversion across societies decide whether both of them liffe, an assistant professor at (MINNEAPOLIS) (TNS) In an effort to understand together. in children, was seeking to accepted the allocation or Boston College. how much of this concept is An aversion to disadvanta- ind out more about which rejected it. Whether they were Life isn’t fair. hard-wired into our biology geous inequity “can provide aspects of fairness might be The experiment was set up rejecting the candy out of That universal truth is and how much of it is cul- long-term beneits by pre- universal and which might to work through a machine frustration or meanness, the SHORE PARENTS NORTH something that children tural, a team of psychologists venting competitors from be culturally driven. To that that required the child to pull children were motivated to seem to understand almost and anthropologists led by attaining a relative advantage end, the researchers designed on one handle to accept the deprive others of an advan- intuitively at a young age, but Harvard University professor and signaling that one will an “inequity game” that they deal — resulting in the candy tage, she said. the path through which they Felix Warneken traveled to not tolerate being exploited,” used to test 866 pairs of chil- being poured into a bowl for EMPHASIS ON EQUALITY develop a sense of what’s fair seven countries to study how Warneken, a social sciences dren ages 4 to 15 in Canada, each child — and a different The reactions to advanta- and what isn’t — and how different groups of children professor, and his co-authors India, Mexico, Peru, Senegal, handle to reject it — Dumping geous inequity were more they act on injustices — is play fair. wrote. Uganda and the United States. the sweets into a third bowl mixed. Children in only something that has been a Their work, which was Advantageous inequity Co-author Peter Blake, where neither one would get three countries — the United puzzle for social scientists. published in the journal aversion “entails a larger an assistant professor of to eat it. States, Canada and Uganda Fairness, a willingness Nature, was focused on the immediate sacriice by reject- psychology at Boston Uni- In all seven societies — — had a tendency to reject to sacriice for the sake of children’s reaction to two ing a relative advantage. It versity, explained that the which ranged from small unequal distributions of greater quality, is an ideal types of scenarios that are may signal that one is a good experiment was speciically villages with a subsistence candy when they got more 2016 27, January • Wednesday, that supports cooperation, unfair. The irst, disadvanta- cooperative partner who will designed to see how children economy to large industri- than their peers. resource sharing and sacri- geous inequity, occurs when not exploit others.” would respond to two sides of alized cities — the results “In these societies, rejec- ice. But it also can lead to one receives less than a peer. Previous studies have found inequality and how they made indicated a rejection of disad- tions of advantageous alloca- competition and greed. The second, advantageous that a distaste for disadvanta- decisions that affected both vantageous inequity. That is, tions increased with age. ... It is often talked about as inequity, happens when one geous inequity develops in themselves and a peer. when the children were allo- Given that Western societies the basis of human civiliza- receives more than a peer. children by the time they are The rules were simple: cated less candy than their tend to emphasize establish- tion, and it affects every The theory has been that 4. Advantageous inequity Two children of the same peers, they tended to route all ing and enforcing norms of aspect of our lives. As the these are two distinct con- aversion, on the other hand, gender and similar age were the treats into the bowl that equality, it is possible that gap between the world’s top cepts that emerge at different doesn’t appear until closer to seated across from each no one could access. children in these communities 1 percent and the rest has ages and use different parts of 8. That seems to indicate the other and were offered some That was expected. “This face social pressures to inter- increased to historic highs the brain. But little has been inluence of social norms. Skittles candy. Sometimes the seems to be a basic human nalize and enact these norms in recent years, fairness in known about environmental UNIVERSAL VS. CULTURAL allocations were equal and response to getting less than earlier in development,” the material payoffs or inequality inluences until this study. The new study, believed to sometimes they were not. someone else,” said study researchers wrote. Escape the Bitter Cold this Winter at CoCo Key Water Park! • Jam Packed with wet & wild fun for the whole family! • Enjoy an Overnight Package or purchase a Day Pass, either are a guaranteed splashtastic time! • Lazy River, Four Giant Water Slides, Parrot’s Perch… we have it all! Bring this ad to receive 15% Off Food and Beverage DoubleTree by Hilton Boston North Shore 50 Ferncroft Road at Gator’s Grab & Go during the month of February! Danvers MA 01923 978-646-1062 Book Your Stay Today at CoCoKeyBoston.com! FINAL-1 Mon, Jan 25, 2016 6:49:44 PM S4 HELP THEM LINK Turning squiggles to words WRITTEN WORDS TO BY LAURAN NEERGAARD Steve Mirandi, LANGUAGE AP MEDICAL WRITER a third-grade teacher at Veterans Celebrate your child’s Reading to very young children Memorial School in is crucial to help them eventually scribbles. A novel experi- Gloucester, starts ment shows that even learn to read. But researchers off Family Reading studying how kids begin to under- before learning their ABCs, Night night last year youngsters start to recog- stand that text conveys meaning with “The Picky differently than pictures — an nize that a written word • Wednesday, January 27, 2016 27, January • Wednesday, important concept for reading symbolizes language in a Prince.” Scientists readiness — say parents should way a drawing doesn’t — a have long known that reading to very pay attention to writing, too. developmental step on the Some suggestions: path to reading. young children helps form the foundation Run a finger under the text Researchers used a pup- when reading to youngsters so pet, line drawings and for them to later kids will learn to link written simple vocabulary to ind learn to read, but words to spoken language, said that children as young as 3 they also say that Brett Miller of the National Insti- are beginning to grasp that it’s important tute for Child Health and Human nuanced concept. to include other Development. “Children at this very activities that Show children how you write early age really know incorporate writing, their names well before they can NORTH SHORE PARENTS NORTH a lot more than we had too. attempt it, said Temple University previously thought,” said psychology professor Kathy developmental psycholo- Hirsh-Pasek. That’s one of their gist Rebecca Treiman of DESI SMITH/ first concrete examples that a Washington University in Staff File Photo mysterious squiggle on a page is St. Louis, who co-authored a symbol for a word they know. the study. And tots’ own scribbling is be read the same way each and ask the child if they in the experiment, Treiman Often a child’s name is his or The research published practice. time, while a canine draw- thought the puppet knew plans to study that. her first written word, thanks to recently in the journal What a child calls a fam- ing might appropriately be what the words or draw- Scientists have long memorizing what it looks like. The Salem News • News Salem The Child Development sug- ily portrait may look like a labeled a dog, or a puppy, or ings were. known that reading to very Encouraging youngsters to invent gests an additional way bunch of grapes but “those even their pet Rover. If the puppet indicated young children helps form their own spellings of other to consider reading readi- squiggles, that ability to use Treiman and colleagues the word “doll” was “baby” the foundation for them to words could spur them to write ness, beyond the emphasis lines to represent some- tested 114 preschool- or “dog” was “puppy,” later learn to read, by intro- even more, said developmental on phonetics or being able thing bigger, to represent ers, 3- to 5-year-olds who many children said the ducing vocabulary, rhyming, psychologist Rebecca Treiman to point out an “A’’ in the something deeper than what hadn’t received any formal puppet was mistaken. But and different speech sounds. of Washington University in St. Louis. alphabet chart. is on that page, is the great instruction in reading or they more often accepted But it’s important to When youngsters scribble, Appreciating that writing open door into the world of writing.