Young children build consensus in networks with local information
Ulysses Rios
Nature Human Behaviour, Published online: 04 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41562-026-02449-w Children aged 5–8 years can reach unanimous consensus in small networks using only local information. This ability increases sharply after kindergarten, with children converging reliably by following local majorities and adopting roles such as leaders, debaters or closers by grades 1–2.