Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of children's popularity and sex on the social cognition and reactive behaviors in a provocative situation. Subjects were elementary school children in the 4th, 5th, 6th grades (224 boys and 197 girls). Questionnaires, designed to assess several social cognitive variables, included 3 domains of social information processing (interpretation of the situation, interpersonal goal-setting, utility judgement of reactive behavior) and 9 reactive behaviors in a hypothetical provocative situation. Children's popularity was also assessed. The results were as follows: (1) Interpersonal goals of boys were more hostile and more assertive than those of girls ; (2) Boys' reactive behaviors were more aggressive on two self-report measures (appeal to teachers and physical aggression) and girls' reactive behaviors were less assertive on one self-report measure (say nothing); (3) Interpersonal goals of unpopular children were more hostile than those of popular children; (4) Unpopular children's reactive behaviors were more aggressive on one self-report measure (exclusion from peer groups) and less friendly-assertive on two peer-nomination measures. Some educational implications were discussed.
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