An Examination of Children's Perceptions of Themselves and Others as a Function of Popularity Level

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess popular, intermediary, and unpopular children's self-perceptions of their popularity status and their global perceptions of other children. In Phase 1, 42 fourth- and fifth-grade children were chosen as either popular, intermediary, or unpopular, using a positive peer nomination and a peer rating scale. In order to indicate their self-perceptions of their popularity status, the children guessed the number of nominations and mean peer ratings they would receive. In Phase 2, in order to assess how the children would perceive unknown peers, 24 fourth- and fifth-grade children from another school were chosen to be observed on videotape interacting in role-play scenes and a staged peer encounter. The children acting as judges immediately rated each child for degree of likability and, after viewing all the tapes, listed objective behaviors that they felt influenced their judgments. Results from Phase 1 indicated that all three groups representing the three levels of popul...