How do cognitive-developmental and situational factors influence a child's orientation toward a particular interaction with a peer? How does this initial orientation affect information exchange, self-assessment, and the potential of the relationship to progress toward friendship? The proposed program of research will examine these peer interaction processes and consequences in children during the elementary school years. The research program is driven both by theories stressing the importance of peer interaction in the development of self-knowledge and by cognitive-developmental theories emphasizing children's active role in constructing social cognitions. A major theme of the proposed research is that the impact of information received from peers may be most powerful when it is elicited actively, as when children seek information relevant to self-evaluation. Thus, the emphasis is on self-socialization aspects of peer relations--the active, constructive processes of children that guide their social experiences. It is suggested that motivations elicited by conditions present prior to an interaction create personal orientations toward a peer that influence the interaction. A combination of observational techniques, self-reports, and experimental manipulations with children aged 5-10 years will provide converging evidence relevant to these issues. The four sets of studies proposed focus on different orientations toward peer interaction--orientation toward personal traits, toward similarities, intrinsic versus extrinsic orientation, and orientation toward self-assessment. The research program addresses basic theoretical issues concerning the relationship between social-cognitive development and social behavior. Moreover, because the proposed research emphasizes active, strategic elements of peer interaction, it has implications for interventions with socially isolated or rejected children. Given that poor peer relations are centrally involved in social disorders and psychiatric problems, therefore, the proposed research is relevant to basic issues of mental health.
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| Stangor, C; Ruble, D N (1987) Development of gender role knowledge and gender constancy. New Dir Child Dev :5-22 |
