The Situated Nature of Preschool Children’s Conflict Strategies

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine whether the peer conflict strategies of preschool children are situated and therefore vary across different conflict situations. Hypothetical conflict interviews were administered through a series of puppet shows. Participants were 178 preschool children. Results indicate that preschool children’s conflict management skills are situated in peer conflict, because their strategies are to a greater or lesser degree influenced by the opponent’s strategies. When the opponent’s conflict strategy is non‐aggressive, aggressive conflict strategies are atypical and low in frequency. When the opponent behaves with physical aggression in the conflict situation, most of the subjects respond to this aggressive conflict strategy with physical aggression. The findings confirm neither a static individual view nor a situated determinism, but a situated action view in which both individuals’ cognitions and distributed cognitions interact.