Young children are curious about what others think about them

Growing up involves learning about ourselves: Who am I, what can I do, and how can I improve? Although social feedback from knowledgeable others (e.g., parents, teachers) serves as a critical source of information for learning about the self, little work has examined children’s curiosity about this information. Using both naturalistic information-seeking behaviors and a binary choice measure, the current work investigates whether and when preschool-aged children seek in- formation about what others think about them. We find that children are more curious about how an adult evaluated their own drawing compared to a drawing made by an unknown peer, while ruling out possible alternative explanations (Experiments 1–3). Critically, this curiosity was modulated by children’s uncertainty about their performance (Experiment 4), suggesting that children’s preference for the self reflects genuine information-seeking. These findings provide evidence for an early-emerging curiosity about what others think about the self.