Development and Social Cognition in Children

Method
Participants

The participants in this experiment were randomly selected children both male and female and ages in groups of three to five years, eight to ten years, and thirteen to fifteen years. Each Wayne State University Psychology 1010 student choose two of these children to interview with parental consent.

Material

The materials needed for this experiment included the standardized interview guide with specific questions for the child interview. The questions included: "What is a best friend," "Who is your best friend? Tell me about him/her," "How do you know he/she is your best friend," and "What do best friends do for you?"

Procedure

Students in the class were asked to interview two children from any of the three categories of children based on age. The selection of which children would be interviewed was done by availability and who could interview what age group. After gaining consent from the parent, the interviewer asked each child the four standardized questions from the interview guide. The responses of the children were heard and written down word for word by the interviewer. There was no training done for the interview with the PSY 1010 students. After interviewing two children each, all the students in the class gathered together based on which age group each student interviewed. The students in each group then coded the responses of the children based on three categories: cost-reward, normative, and empathetic. Cost-reward responses dealt with friendship being based on proximity and similar interests. Normative responses dealt with friendship based on helping one another, sharing, loyalty and common values or roles. Empathetic responses dealt with friendship based on mutual understanding and empathy. The number of responses from each category were then totaled up and recorded.Results