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The Influence of Group Size on Children's Competitive Behavior
Author(s) -
Benenson Joyce F.,
Nicholson Catherine,
Waite Angela,
Roy Rosanne,
Simpson Anna
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/1467-8624.00324
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , group dynamic , social relation , test (biology) , social psychology , ecology , biology
The present research was designed to test the hypothesis that children would compete more in tetrads than in dyads. Twenty‐two pairs of male and 14 pairs of female target children ( N = 72) played a competitive game in both tetrads and dyads. Consistent with the hypothesis, male target children competed more in tetrads than in dyads. This hypothesis was not supported for females, however. Analyses of the dynamics of tetrads and dyads further demonstrated that based on a global measure of smiling, the emotional atmosphere was less positive in tetrads than in dyads. The causes and consequences of interaction in different sized social groups are discussed.