Young children's awareness of socially mediated rejection of food - Why isfood dropped at the table "dirty"?

We sometimes drop food at mealtimes. Once dropped, the food becomes dirty o r inedible not only in a physical but also in a social sense. Even without physical contact with contaminants, we may not eat fallen food in same soci al contexts, e.g., a high-quality restaurant. Such thinking is referred her e as "socially mediated rejection." In Study 1, Japanese children were obse rved during mealtimes at home and at school. Even 2-year-olds reacted to fa llen food differently between at school and home. In Study 2, 4- and 6-year -olds and adults were presented several stories in an experiment, and were asked to predict the story character's bodily and emotional reactions to ea ting fallen food. Preschoolers noticed that physically contaminated food wo uld cause bodily harm more than socially rejected food. (C) 2001 Elsevier S cience Inc. All rights reserved.