"Birds of a Feather...": Behavioral Concordances and Preferential Personal Attraction in Children

The purpose of this study was to assess the extent to which preferential personal attraction was associated with behavioral similarity among newly acquainted children. Participants included 69 focal children, selected from a sample of 236 7-year-old children who met, for the first time, in same-sex...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Child development 1994-12, Vol.65 (6), p.1778-1785
Main Authors: Rubin, Kenneth H., Lynch, David, Coplan, Robert, Rose-Krasnor, Linda, Booth, Cathryn L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Behavior
Behaviour
Biological and medical sciences
Child
Child Behavior
Child development
Childhood
Childhood Attitudes
Children
Children & youth
Choice Behavior
Concordance
Developmental psychology
Female
Friendship
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Gender discrimination
Humans
Interpersonal Relations
Male
Peer Acceptance
Peer Groups
Peer relations
Peer Relationship
Peers
Perceptual similarity
Personal relationships
Play and Playthings
Play Style
Popularity
Preferences
Psychology, Child
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Quartets
Role
Social Behavior
Social Development
Social discrimination
Social research
T tests
Theater
Young Children
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Summary:The purpose of this study was to assess the extent to which preferential personal attraction was associated with behavioral similarity among newly acquainted children. Participants included 69 focal children, selected from a sample of 236 7-year-old children who met, for the first time, in same-sex quartets (n = 59) for a free-play session. Within each of these quartets, a "discriminating child" was identified; this child expressed a clear preference for one of his or her playmates over one other of her or his quartet playmates. Preference was determined sociometrically after the children became acquainted during free play. The results indicated that "discriminating" children were more behaviorally similar to preferred playmates than to nonpreferred playmates both in terms of cognitive play style and social participation. Implications of the findings are discussed in terms of the relation to the acquaintanceship process.
ISSN:0009-3920
1467-8624
DOI:10.2307/1131293