Social dominance in preschool classrooms.

Dominance in Preschool Classrooms: Change across a School Year

We examined the ways in which preschool children’s agonistic and cooperative behaviors related to their social dominance. First, two common assumptions associated with theories of social dominance were tested. We hypothesized that directly observed agonistic interactions would decrease across the school year and that same-sex agonism would be greater than cross-sex agonism. Both of these hypoth...

Developmental Psychology Inhibition and Exuberance in Preschool Classrooms: Associations With Peer Social Experiences and Changes in Cortisol Across the Preschool Year

Preschool children's attention to environmental messages about groups: social categorization and the origins of intergroup bias.

This study was designed to examine the effects of adults' labeling and use of social groups on preschool children's intergroup attitudes. Children (N=87, aged 3-5) attending day care were given measures of classification skill and self-esteem and assigned to membership in a novel ("red" or "blue") social group. In experimental classrooms, teachers used the color groups to label children and org...

The Social Networks of Children With and Without Disabilities in Early Childhood Special Education Classrooms.

Interaction with peers is an important contributor to young children's social and cognitive development. Yet, little is known about the nature of social networks within preschool inclusive classrooms. The current study applied a social network analysis to characterize children's peer interactions in inclusive classrooms and their relations with children's disability status. The participants wer...

Affiliative Subgroups in Preschool Classrooms: Integrating Constructs and Methods from Social Ethology and Sociometric Traditions

Recent studies of school-age children and adolescents have used social network analyses to characterize selection and socialization aspects of peer groups. Fewer network studies have been reported for preschool classrooms and many of those have focused on structural descriptions of peer networks, and/or, on selection processes rather than on social functions of subgroup membership. In this stud...