The Development of Sociality in Language and Thought

Surprisingly little research has been conducted on how children learn to form productive social bonds with their peers over the course of middle childhood, when children tend to turn from parental to peer influence. In this talk I adduce evidence from the verbal and nonverbal behaviors children use with their peers, independent assessments of the level of rapport between peers, performance on collaborative tasks, and interbrain synchrony, in order to begin to better understand the development of sociality, and how this sociality may serve positive and less positive roles in children's learning and well-being.