PEOPLE START CARING ABOUT THEIR REPUTATIONS IN KINDERGARTEN
Caring about what other people think can be limiting, but it can also be necessary if you want to succeed in our society. Now researchers from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business and the University of Chicago have found children start to care about their reputations by about age five. Study co-author, Ike Silver says they found children seem to be "adept reputation managers" by the time they hit elementary school.
Silver adds, "It really does seem to be that around age five, we start to engage in behaviors that require certain kinds of problem-solving: being able to think about, 'If this person sees me doing X, what will they conclude about me?' We don't know to what extent those questions are answered consciously, but we know they must be able to answer them."
This along with other recent studies, suggest kids are constantly managing their reputations.
(Time)