Considering the social immaturity of children at the ti me they enter the peer 9 roup, can they really be a help to each other? Are they good role models for each other? Generally speaking, the answer to these questions is yes. Support for such a show of confi dence in three- and four-year-olds comes mainly from observation studies in day care centers, nur sery schools, and Head Start classrooms in which social interactions are observed during free activity time when adults are maintaining a low profile and children are free to seek out activities and compan ions of their choice. Typically. in these studies. fre quencies of friendly, prosocial behaviors (smiles, affection-giving, praise, conformity to requests, and
106 Theory Into Practice
conversation) and unfriendly, anti-social behaviors (physical aggression, verbal scoldings or insults, ig noring. and avoiding) are recorded. With few excep tions. the results from many different investigations indicate that friendly, prosocial behaviors occur from three to seven times as often as unfriendly, aggressive behaviors in groups of preschool-age children. Further, the children themselves selec tively "reward" positive behaviors with friendly re sponses, thus encouraging the friendly child to be have in a similar manner in the future (Charlesworth and Hartup, 1967).Friendlier children also are iden tified more often as "liked" on sociometric instru ments and generally are preferred as companions. Consistent with this picture. highly aggressive chil dren (although not necessarily moderately aggres sive children) are resisted, disliked, and avoided more than others, giving such children the message that their companions would like them to change.
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