Sentido de propriedade em crianças: bases evolucionistas / Sense of ownership in children: evolutionary bases

Resumen O sentido de propriedade reflete o entendimento e o julgamento que as pessoas apresentam em relação à apropriação e ao uso dos recursos disponíveis. A partir de um enfoque evolucionista, os objetivos deste artigo foram realizar uma análise teórica sobre a ontogênese do sentido de propriedade buscando descrever os critérios utilizados pelas crianças para atribuírem a propriedade a alguém e lançar uma hipótese explicativa de haver alguma vantagem adaptativa para essa capacidade. Conclusões preliminares sugerem que crianças, em diferentes culturas, usam variados critérios para fazerem julgamentos e inferências sobre a posse e a propriedade e que o aparecimento precoce dessa capacidade desempenharia importante papel para as interações sociais, tais como o de minimizar conflitos originados pela disputa de recursos.

Abstract The sense of ownership reflects people's understanding and judgment regarding the appropriation and use of available resources. From an evolutionary approach, the aims of this paper were to conduct a theoretical analysis on the ontogenesis of the sense of property, seeking to describe the criteria used by children to assign property to someone and to put forward an explanatory hypothesis that there is an adaptive advantage in this capacity. Preliminary conclusions suggest that children, in different cultures, use varying criteria to make judgments and inferences about possess and ownership, and that the early emergence of this ability would play an important role in social interactions, such as minimizing conflicts arising from resource disputes.

Ownership reasoning in children across cultures.

To what extent do early intuitions about ownership depend on cultural and socio-economic circumstances? We investigated the question by testing reasoning about third party ownership conflicts in various groups of three- and five-year-old children (N=176), growing up in seven highly contrasted social, economic, and cultural circumstances (urban rich, poor, very poor, rural poor, and traditional) spanning three continents. Each child was presented with a series of scripts involving two identical dolls fighting over an object of possession. The child had to decide who of the two dolls should own the object. Each script enacted various potential reasons for attributing ownership: creation, familiarity, first contact, equity, plus a control/neutral condition with no suggested reasons. Results show that across cultures, children are significantly more consistent and decisive in attributing ownership when one of the protagonists created the object. Development between three and five years is more or less pronounced depending on culture. The propensity to split the object in equal halves whenever possible was generally higher at certain locations (i.e., China) and quasi-inexistent in others (i.e., Vanuatu and street children of Recife). Overall, creation reasons appear to be more primordial and stable across cultures than familiarity, relative wealth or first contact. This trend does not correlate with the passing of false belief theory of mind.

Dimensions of familial allocentrism in Brazilian mothers from state capitals and small cities

This study focuses on 606 Brazilian women’s cultural models regarding their relation with their family, as evaluated by the Family Allocentrism Idiocentrism Scale (FAS). The scale was translated into Portuguese, submitted to back-translation and adapted. Analyses of the scale’s structure indicated that the best fit model involves two independent factors. Univariate GLM (General Linear Model) analyses showed that the place where mothers were raised presented a significant effect on their scores on factor 1 (normative familial allocentrism). Mothers raised on rural areas have higher scores on this factor, than the ones raised on urban areas. The opposite occurred with factor 2 (relational familial allocentrism). The set of evidences indicate that the FAS may be a bi-dimensional measure. One dimension would be part of a more stable and basic model of relation to family, constructed during development. The second dimension would be related to more recent experiences and would be more readily affected by socio-cultural context changes, including in acculturation processes (AU)

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Profiles of maternal care observed in a group of brazilian mothers: an exploratory study

The aim of this study is to characterize profiles of maternal care in a sample of Brazilian mothers, using a culturalbiological perspective. Participants were 315 women who had at least one child younger than six years-old. They were selected from six Brazilian states. In each state, two groups of mothers were studied, one from the capital and one from a small city. They were interviewed and answered scales on allocentrism, social support, adult attachment, and practices of childcare. Mothers’ characteristics, the type of context (capital vs. small city), and reported childcare practices were used in a Tree analysis. A Correspondence analysis was performed using the four clusters obtained and mothers’ answers regarding their youngest child. Univariate GLM analyses were performed to compare mothers in the four clusters in terms of their scores on the different scales. Four maternal profiles presenting distinctive patterns of association between mothers’ characteristics and care practices displayed to the youngest child were identified. We conclude that maternal care is a multi-determined phenomenon and that the method employed in this study can give insights into how the combination of diverse social-biological factors can result in a set of childcare practices (AU)

El objetivo de este estudio es caracterizar los perfiles de atención materna en una muestra de madres brasileñas, desde una perspectiva cultural-biológica. Las participantes fueron 315 mujeres que tenían al menos un hijo menor de seis años. Fueron seleccionadas en seis estados brasileños. En cada estado, se estudiaron dos grupos de madres, uno de la capital y otro de una ciudad pequeña. Fueron entrevistadas y se les administró la escala de alocentrismo, la de apoyo social, la de apego en adultos, y la de prácticas de cuidado en niños. Las características maternas, el tipo de contexto (la capital vs. ciudad pequeña), y la información aportada sobre prácticas de cuidado en niños, fueron utilizados en un árbol de decisión. Utilizando los cuatro grupos obtenidos y las respuestas de las madres sobre sus hijos más pequeños, se realizó un análisis de correspondencias. Para comparar a las madres en los cuatro grupos, en función de sus puntuaciones en las diferentes escalas, se utilizaron análisis univariados mediante el procedimiento GLM. Fueron identificados cuatro perfiles maternos que presentan patrones distintivos de asociación entre las características maternas y las prácticas de cuidado que se dispensan a los niños más pequeños. Llegamos a la conclusión de que la atención materna es un fenómeno multi-determinado y que el método empleado en este estudio puede proporcionarnos mayor información sobre cómo puede resultar la combinación de diversos factores sociobiológicos, en un conjunto de prácticas de cuidado infantil (AU)

Autonomy and interdependence: beliefs of brazilian mothers from state capitals and small towns

This study aimed to investigate characteristics of Brazilian mothers’ beliefs system, in the dimensions of autonomy and interdependence. A group of 600 women, half from state capitals and half from small towns, participated in the study. They were individually interviewed with Scales of Allocentrism, Beliefs about Parental Practices and Socialization Goals. Paired and Independent samples t tests and Multivariate GLM were performed. The results indicate that although mothers from both contexts value autonomy, mothers inhabiting small towns considered the relational dimension as the most important; whereas mothers inhabiting capitals valued equally both dimensions, either in their beliefs about practices or in the socialization goals for their children. Mothers from small towns have a higher mean score for allocentrism than mothers living in capitals. Thus, place of residence proved to be a relevant variable in the modulation of maternal beliefs. Educational level was not a significant factor in the variables considered and with this group of mothers. The study results are discussed in terms of their contribution to the understanding of the complex relationship between dimensions of autonomy and interdependence in mothers’ beliefs system (AU)

El propósito de esta investigación fue investigar las características del sistema de creencias de las madres brasileñas en las dimensiones de autonomía e interdependencia. Participaron en el estudio un grupo de 600 mujeres, la mitad proveniente de la capital y la otra mitad de pequeñas ciudades. Las mujeres fueron individualmente evaluadas en una Escala de Alocentrismo, creencias acerca de prácticas parentales y metas de socialización. Los datos se analizaron en función de pruebas t emparejadas e independientes, y análisis multivariado MLG. Los resultados mostraron que aunque las madres de ambos contextos valoraban la autonomía, las madres de ciudades más pequeñas consideraron más importante la dimensión relacional; mientras que las madres provenientes de capitales valoraban por igual las dimensiones relativas a su sistema de creencias parentales y las metas de socialización. Por otra parte, las madres de ciudades más pequeñas obtuvieron mayores puntuaciones en alocentrismo que las madres de las capitales. Asimismo, el lugar de residencia se consideró como un factor relevante en la modulación del sistema de creencias maternas. El nivel educativo no fue un factor significativo en las variables evaluadas ni con la muestra utilizada. En general, los resultados del estudio se discuten en términos de su contribución para la compresión de las complejas relaciones entre las dimensiones de autonomía e interdependencia en el sistema de creencias de las madres (AU)