Social sages: Popularity as a distinct form of social status emerging in middle childhood

The ongoing rise of social media influencers highlights a common social tendency: People copy what popular people do, wear, and say. However, popular people often possess additional positive traits (e.g., attractiveness, wealth), raising the question of whether popularity itself motivates this copying. Is this copying a specific feature of popularity, setting popularity apart as a distinct status category? We examine children’s developing concept of popularity, isolated from its confounds, to understand how popularity emerges in development. Across four preregistered studies (N = 380; 5- to 10-year-olds), children evaluated characters who differed in popularity and other traits. Our primary measure asked children who they thought others copied. In Study 1, children believed people copy a popular character, not an unpopular character, despite not viewing the popular character as nicer or smarter. However, children associated popularity with wealth. Studies 2 through 4 contrasted a popular and rich character. As young as age 7 (many studies and measures), and reliably by age 9 (all studies and measures), children believed others copy the popular character over the rich character. Children said this copying was specific to certain matters, like trends, not academics. This pattern did not reflect a general preference for popular people: Children thought the rich character had an easier life and were divided about whether they would prefer to be popular or rich themselves. Together, these findings demonstrate that children treat popularity as its own status category that involves being copied to gain specific kinds of knowledge (making popular kids, “social sages”).