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Conflict resolution and social understanding in six to twelve year old boys
Author(s) -
BORG ANETTE,
HULTMAN EVA,
WÆRN YVONNE
Publication year - 1978
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.743
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1467-9450
pISSN - 0036-5564
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9450.1978.tb00303.x
Subject(s) - psychology , developmental psychology , conflict resolution , social psychology , social conflict , social relation , task (project management) , social change , conflict resolution strategy , management , political science , law , economics , economic growth , politics
Three different aspects of children's social competency were studied, i.e. social methods, (via their suggested solution to given conflict situations), social understanding (via their explanations of the solution given) and role‐taking capacity. 75 boys—ages 6, 8 and 12 years—were interviewed concerning different conflict situations, six of which involved a child/child interaction and six a child/adult interaction. A separate role‐taking task was also used. Developmental differences in social methods were found only in situations involving adults, where older children to a greater extent chose altruistic methods for solving the conflict. As regards social understanding, developmental changes were found and correspond to results reported by previous researchers. Role‐taking capacity was found to increase with age. Role‐taking as measured here was not related to social understanding. Social method and social understanding were significantly related to each other in some of the situations, mainly in those involving only children. The results indicate that different norms prevail for solving conflicts with adults versus with peers, and that the role‐taking aspect is but one of several involved in the development of social understanding.