Relation between Pupils' Social Acceptability in the Classroom, in the School, and in the Neighborhood

Abstract

T HE DEGREE to which an individual is accepted by his peers is related to the extent to which he is able to make satisfactory personal and social adjustments. Research studies (2, 8, 12) have shown that persons with low social acceptability among peers are generally characterized as listless, shy, withdrawing individuals or as noisy, rebellious, socially ineffective persons. In contrast, those experiencing high social acceptability usually possess behavior characteristics such as friendliness, cheerfulness, enthusiasm, initiative, and the like, which are commonly associated with leadership (2, 8, 13). These findings concerning the importance of social acceptability among peers have caused teachers, counselors, and research workers to focus their attention on methods of measuring the social acceptability of group members. Probably the most frequently used and most promising technique in this regard is the sociometric technique, originally developed by Moreno (9). This technique requires group members to choose a given number of associates for some group activity. The number of choices that each person receives is referred to as his sociometric status and is used as an index of his social acceptability in that group. An individual's sociometric status would serve as a reliable index of general social acceptability, of course, only if his status