Child Legitimacy: Class President

This study focuses on children's understanding of the legitimacy of power afforded to an elected person, in this case a class president. Do children see the status and power of a democratically elected president as different from someone appointed from a vote-counting error and/or a rigged election? We hypothesize that children will be more likely to judge a democratically elected president as legitimately holding the status of president, compared to a president appointed via a vote-counting error or a rigged election. Additionally, we hypothesize that children will attribute greater legitimate power to a democratically elected president, particularly with respect to institutional authorities (e.g., making official decisions that are tied to the role), compared to a president who obtained the position through illegitimate means. Finally, we hypothesize that children’s affective evaluations will track legitimacy, namely children will report greater liking of a democratically elected president. We expect these trends to grow stronger with age; of interest is if they appear in the youngest children tested.