Peer Networks, Behavior Contingencies and Children's Engagement in the Classroom
Journal article by Nicole A. Sage, Thomas A. Kindermann; Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, Vol. 45, 1999
Journal Article Excerpt
Peer Networks, Behavior Contingencies, and Children's Engagement in the Classroom. by Nicole A. Sage , Thomas A. Kindermann Natural behavior contingencies were examined as a mechanism by which peers can influence children's school motivation in classroom interactions. Sequential observations in a fifth grade classroom identified contingencies that children experienced from peer group members, nonmembers, and the teacher as consequences of their behavior; peer groups were identified with a Composite Social Map procedure. The more students were motivated, the more likely they were to receive approval from peer group members following their active on-task behaviors. The less students were motivated, the more they received disapproval from nonmembers following their disruptive off-task behaviors. These contingency patterns constitute learning conditions that can be seen as a mechanism through which a child's peer group members can influence that child's school motivation. The study of group influences on individuals' behavior has enjoyed a long and rich history, predominantly in the fields of social and experimental psychology. The effects of group processes have been shown to be powerful and robust, to generalize across many experimental and naturalistic conditions, and to exert their influences on various target variables (e.g. Asch, 1955; Sherif, Harvey, White, Hood, & Sherif, 1961). Developmentalists also have shown a longstanding interest in children's peer groups (for reviews, see Hartup, 1983; Rubin, Bukowski, & Parker, 1998). Theorists (e.g., Piaget, Vygotski) have argued that influences from friends and peer affiliates play a central role in children's development. Experimental studies are usually considered to provide the strongest evidence for group influence effects. In these studies, peer influences are typically exerted by randomly assigned individuals who do not share a pre-established relationship and a prior history. However, for developmentalists, more interesting questions about peer influence processes during childhood do not concern effects from random strangers, but effects from children's natural friends and peer affiliates. Thus, the focus of developmental research is more on influences from natural group contexts and on questions about the extent to which change in individuals across time is a result of the characteristics of their peer contexts. Studies that have experimentally identified influences from children's natural peer contexts are rare. One example is a study by Berndt, Laychak, and Park (1990) in which the role of discussions among adolescent friends were examined for changes in their self-reported behavior. Pairs of friends who discussed academically related dilemmas with their friends (e.g., whether to do school work or attend a rock concert) converged more in their decisions than did pairs who discussed nonacademic topics. This study shows that influences from friends can lead to increasing similarity in behavior, and that discussions can produce such convergence. In order to examine outcomes of natural socialization processes across longer time frames, researchers necessarily have to rely on correlational studies that examine similarities between the characteristics of a child and the characteristics of his or her peer affiliates. During recent years, a considerable number of such studies has accumulated. Researchers have examined friendship dyads (e.g., Berndt & Keefe, 1996; Dishion, Spracklen, Andrews, & Patterson, 1996; Hallinan & Williams, 1990; Kandel, 1978), groups of friends (e.g., Ennett & Bauman, 1994; Mounts & Steinberg, 1995; Urberg, 1992), and peer group networks (e.g., Cairns, Cairns, & Neckerman, 1989; Kindermann, 1993). Overall, the findings are consistent with the hypothesis that influences can occur from natural peer contexts on children's attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors, and that these influences can be important for children's further development. However, correlational studies on the influences from natural peer contexts are faced with one drawback. Although findings of significant relations between characteristics of peer affiliations and children's own characteristics can indicate influence processes, alternative explanations also are possible. The relations also can be results of pre-existing conditions or concurrent external factors, without actual involvement of direct influences from peers. One such pre-existing factor is peer selection. Childhood peer contexts have the characteristic that children are able to select for themselves (from a pool of candidates) those other children with whom they want to affiliate. These self-selected affiliations are based on mutual liking, shared interests, or shared activities. Thus, high levels of similarity on a variety of variables are the basis from which groups of affiliates are created (e.g., groups of friends or' peers who merely "hang out" together). Overall, selection processes in natural groups appear to be as powerful as socialization influences in creating person-to-group similarity (e.g., Kandel, 1978).Peer selection also can explain increasing group convergence across time, because peers may have joined who were already on similar ... |
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