This study investigated the social behavior patterns of children who worked on a cooperative task. Several ways of increasing interdependence were explored, and the effects of such methods on task performance were determined. Seventy six same-sex triads of fourth and fifth graders were asked to cooperate in making a block-picture on a round board.…

The socialization function of education is examined through a study of how teachers' positions regarding responsibility affect the behavior and attitudes of their first-grade pupils. (LH)

Role models serve important functions for students, providing standards against which students can evaluate themselves, and motivating students toward innovative achievement. The findings of a study show that students tend to prefer models of the same sex. (Author/MLW)

The relationship between self-control and role-taking deficits as exhibited by 37 female institutionalized juvenile delinquents was assessed by Chandler's measure of social egocentrism. Subjects, matched on the basis of their scores on the Matching Familiar Figures (MFF) Test, were randomly assigned to treatment or control groups. The treatment…

Focuses on the work of girls who take on the role of refereeing the course of action within the game of hopscotch. The fieldwork for this article is based on a study of the interaction of bilingual Spanish- and English-speaking girls. The range of experiences within this game challenges characterizations of girls' play as limiting the development…

Used a standard picture-ranking task to assess preschooler's attitudes about orthopedically handicapped individuals. Found that children as young as preschool age can hold a functionally related preference for a normal over a physically handicapped person. Children who held this preference interacted differently in social situations than children…

Class awareness among rural children was investigated in three dimensions: cognitive, behavioral, and evaluative. Data were obtained from 378 white students in grades K-8 in 9 rural elementary schools in the Upper Cumberland region of middle Tennessee. Children's social class background (SES) was determined by their father's occupational strata…

This article analyzes the interaction between sex role and "pupil role" in the early childhood education setting. It postulates that teachers and schools have a demonstrated investment in socializing children to a passive, docile, and dependent role, beginning at the preschool level. This role, called "pupil role," corresponds closely to the…

The factors involved in assuming the role of members from different social groups were studied in six- and eight-year-old white Anglo-American children. The role taking task involved rating various ethnic members in terms of their desirability as uncles or nephews for the role person. A cognitive-developmental factor was manipulated by choosing…