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Children's Differentiation Between Ingratiation and Self‐Promotion
Author(s) -
Watling Dawn,
Banerjee Robin
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
social development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.078
H-Index - 91
eISSN - 1467-9507
pISSN - 0961-205X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-9507.2007.00406.x
Subject(s) - psychology , sociometry , interpersonal communication , social psychology , social competence , developmental psychology , competence (human resources) , sociometric status , promotion (chess) , preference , social change , politics , political science , microeconomics , law , economics , economic growth
Previous research has demonstrated that 10‐year‐olds can provide interpersonal explanations for certain self‐presentational tactics, but detailed information about the development of their understanding of these tactics is lacking. This research investigated children's understanding of the processes involved in ingratiation (used to indicate likeability) and self‐promotion (used to indicate competence). In the first study, with a sample of 60 children aged six to 11 years, children saw ingratiation as leading to more positive social evaluation than self‐promotion, which was seen as having a more concrete, instrumental function. Additionally, children's differentiation between ingratiation and self‐promotion was correlated with their level of peer preference, as determined through sociometric nominations, particularly for boys. In a second study, with a sample of 63 children aged six to 11 years, it was found that audience type (peer vs. adult) was related to children's understanding of the self‐presentational tactics: children offered more social evaluation justifications for a self‐promotion tactic when the audience was a peer rather than an adult. Results are discussed with reference to emerging insights into the links between peer relations and social cognition.