Obedience Among Children in an East African Society

Abstract

Among the world's culture areas, African societies are rated the highest in socialization for compliance. The Kikuyu, a group with typically high compliance training, were tested experimentally for obedience. Eighteen children between five and nine years of age were given two tasks by their own mothers and the same two tasks by another child's mother. Overall obedience was very high, with ten children obeying fully on all tasks. The strongest contrast with previous findings was that, unlike American children, Kikuyu children did not disobey their own mothers more than another child's mother. The strong compliance emphasis was tentatively argued to be a concomitant of the child's participation in the household's economic activities.