Children "tune out" in response to the ambiguous communication style of powerless adults

Changes in children's attentional engagement were assessed as a function of their exposure to "teachers" who differed in perceived power and the commu nication style that is associated with perceived power. In Study 1, "teache rs" (women assigned to an instructional role) were selected on the basis of their perceived power; low-power women were more Likely than high-power wo men to display communication ambiguity. Children responded to low-power wom en with low levels of (1) autonomic orienting (consistent with low attentio n) and (2) high errors on a cognitively demanding task (mental arithmetic). Attentional disengagement was found to be mediated by the ambiguous commun ication style of low-power adults. Ln Study 2, the "teacher" was a confeder ate who systematically varied the facial and vocal ambiguity of her instruc tions. Children showed the lowest levels of orienting and the highest level of errors when the "teacher" was ambiguous in both face and voice. Results were interpreted as showing that adult ambiguity (naturally occurring or e xperimentally produced) leads to reductions in children's attentional engag ement.