Correlation between behavior control and comprehension of irony at preschool age

Abstract

Children learn to control their behavior through cultural norms. The norms are imposed as rules set by adults during social interactions. L. S. Vygotsky’s culturalhistorical theory posits that a child’s development involves the acquisition of cultural paradigms as tools of cognition, experience, communication, and behavior. These learned rules become behavior patterns that form the foundation of a child’s socialization. Adults are expected to ensure that children internalize these rules, although it is not always achievable. When a child successfully adopts these behavior patterns and acts in accordance with the cultural expectations appropriate for their age, they are considered culturally congruent. Today, the effective development of behavior patterns based on cultural norms is challenged, affecting preschoolers and older children alike. Our research hypothesizes that the efficiency of rule adoption is linked to children’s comprehension of irony, which is rarely used in children-adult interactions. The reported research is a pilot study. It involved 50 children aged five. To identify the correlation between cultural congruence and comprehension of irony in preschoolers, we used the methodology for assessing cultural congruence (Bayanova, Mustafin 2016) and understanding irony (Köder, Falkum 2021). According to the methodology, cultural congruency is expressed in a number of factors shared by the rules. They include safety, hygiene, self-control, and obedience (compliance with the expectations of adults). Comprehension of irony was assessed using story telling pictures. They illustrate situations where adults have conflicting assessments of children’s behavior, e.g., praising a child for staining their clothes. The study reveals a tendency toward the correlation between cultural congruence and preschoolers’ comprehension of irony based on a number of cultural congruency factors. The findings suggest that irony may enhance a child’s cognitive evaluation of the situation, while highlighting its potential as a valuable socialization tool.