Familiar Peers Research Articles

Making connections and making friends: social interactions between two children labelled with special educational needs and their peers in a nursery setting

This paper reports on a pilot study of the social interactions between two children labelled with special educational needs and their peers in an early years setting. Data from play observations and staff interviews are used to examine the dynamics of friendship groups that the two children have developed and the way that they attempt to make new connections with other children. Comparisons between the two children’s interactions with their recurrent playmates and less familiar peers are drawn and the significance of their agency in making decisions about developing relationships is highlighted. A theme that also emerges is that staff facilitating rather than directing interactions between the two children and their peers has the most positive impact. Areas for further investigation are suggested including the range of relationships that children identified with special educational needs establish with their peers and the nature of adult support that most effectively supports friendships between all children.

Young Children's Trust Beliefs in Peers: Relations to Social Competence and Interactive Behaviors in a Peer Group

Research Findings: The aim of this study was to explore the relations between children's trust beliefs and social competence as well as social preference. In addition, this study examined how children with different trust belief profiles may differ in their peer interactive behaviors. A total of 47 children ages 5 to 6 participated in this study. Data were collected via observation of play behaviors, a teacher-rated social competence scale, and a child interview. The results indicated that children's trust beliefs in friends’ promise-keeping behaviors were positively associated with intrapersonal and interpersonal domains of social competence. Children who had greater trust in non-friend classmates’ promise-keeping behaviors tended to be sociable in a group, polite, and more preferred, and they were less likely to be disliked by peers. Children with different trust profiles exhibited differential interactive behaviors with peers. Practice or Policy: These findings suggest that parents and early childhood educators should pay more attention to the extent to which young children trust their close friends and familiar peers, especially in terms of keeping promises. Adults may model their efforts in keeping their promises made to children and enhance children's capacity to reciprocate trust in close relationships. Adults can help children differentiate their trust based on the intimacy of relationships.

Grades and Rank: Impacts of Non-Financial Incentives on Test Performance

How does effort respond to being graded and ranked? This paper examines the effects of non-financial incentives on test performance. We conduct a randomized field experiment on more than a thousand sixth graders in Swedish primary schools. Extrinsic non-financial incentives play an important role in motivating highly skilled students to exert more effort. We find significant differences in test scores between the intrinsically motivated control group and three of four extrinsically motivated treatment groups. The only treatment not increasing test performance is criterion-based grading on an A-F scale, which is the typical grading method. Test performance is significantly higher if employing rank-based grading or giving students a symbolic reward. The motivational strengths of the non- financial incentives differ across the test score distribution, across the skill distribution, with peer familiarity, and with respect to gender. Boys are only motivated by rank-based incentives, while girls are also motivated by receiving a symbolic reward. Rank-based grading and symbolic rewards tend to crowd out intrinsic motivation for students with low skills, while girls also respond less to rank-based incentives if tested with less familiar peers.

Video Game Play May Attenuate Cortisol Response To Psychosocial Stress In Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorders

The common characteristics and patterns of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) include the need for consistency, rituals, predictability and problem solving [1]. The constant changing nature of unfamiliar social interactions that require spontaneous intuitive adjustment may exacerbate socially related anxiety for these individuals with ASD [1]. Accumulating evidence indicates that individuals with ASD were easily suffered from anxiety symptoms in stressful situations [2-4]. For example, salivary cortisol levels were significantly increased in response to an unfamiliar peer compared to a familiar peer in thirty-three children aged 6-13 years [1]. The peer interaction paradigm resulted in significantly higher levels of salivary cortisol in 21 children with ASD aged 8 to 12 years compared to normal controls, suggesting that the ASD children easily activate hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) responses in social situations [3]. Twenty-seven male children with ASD aged 8 to 12 years maintained an elevated cortisol level in response to standardized social-evaluative performance task compared to children with agematched 32 typical developments [4].

The Impact of Early Amygdala Damage on Juvenile Rhesus Macaque Social Behavior

The present experiments continue a longitudinal study of rhesus macaque social behavior following bilateral neonatal ibotenic acid lesions of the amygdala or hippocampus, or sham operations. Juvenile animals (approximately 1.5-2.5 years) were tested in four different social contexts--alone, while interacting with one familiar peer, while interacting with one unfamiliar peer, and in their permanent social groups. During infancy, the amygdala-lesioned animals displayed more interest in conspecifics (indexed by increased affiliative signaling) and paradoxically demonstrated more submission or fear (Bauman, Lavenex, Mason, Capitanio, & Amaral, 2004a, this journal). When these animals were assessed as juveniles, differences were less striking. Amygdala-lesioned animals generated fewer aggressive and affiliative signals (e.g., vocalizations, facial displays) and spent less time in social interactions with familiar peers. When animals were observed alone or with an unfamiliar peer, amygdala-lesioned animals, compared with other subjects, spent more time being inactive and physically explored the environment less. Despite the subtle, lesion-based differences in the frequency and duration of specific social behaviors, there were lesion-based differences in the organization of behavior such that lesion groups could be identified based on the patterning of social behaviors in a discriminant function analysis. The findings indicate that, although overall frequencies of many of the observed behaviors do not differ between groups, the general patterning of social behavior may distinguish the amygdala-lesioned animals.

Grades and Rank: Impacts of Non-Financial Incentives on Test Performance

How does effort respond to being graded and ranked? This paper examines the effects of non-financial incentives on test performance. We conduct a randomized field experiment on more than a thousand sixth graders in Swedish primary schools. Extrinsic non-financial incentives play an important role in motivating highly skilled students to exert more effort. We find significant differences in test scores between the intrinsically motivated control group and three of four extrinsically motivated treatment groups. The only treatment not increasing test performance is criterion-based grading on an A-F scale, which is the typical grading method. Test performance is significantly higher if employing rank-based grading or giving students a symbolic reward. The motivational strengths of the non-financial incentives differ across the test score distribution, across the skill distribution, with peer familiarity, and with respect to gender. Boys are only motivated by rank-based incentives, while girls are also motivated by receiving a symbolic reward. Rank-based grading and symbolic rewards tend to crowd out intrinsic motivation for students with low skills, while girls also respond less to rank-based incentives if tested with less familiar peers.

The influence of friends and peers on children’s food intake. An experimental study

School-aged children spend a substantial amount of time interacting with other children. Recent work has suggested that peers and friends influence children’s eating attitudes and behaviours, but it is unclear whether there are any differences between the effect that friends versus peers may have on children’s eating. The research presented considers the effect of groups of friends and groups of peers on preadolescent children’s food intake. Following their school lunch, children aged 8–9 years were offered free access to two energy dense foods (chocolate cookies and crisps) and two nutrient dense foods (carrot sticks and apple pieces) whilst completing a game task. On one occasion children played and ate with a group of friends, on the other with a group of familiar peers. Gender differences in consumption were observed. For boys, there were significant differences in the consumption of both of the nutrient dense foods, with boys consuming more carrots and apples when with their friends, compared to with their peers. For girls, there was a significant difference in consumption for carrots only, such that girls consumed more carrots when in the presence of friends, compared to peers. In terms of overall consumption levels, boys consumed significantly more when with their friends, compared to with their peers. The same was not found for girls. The results provide some evidence that social context (being in the presence of friends or peers) and gender may have a differential impact on consumption in preadolescent children.

Improvement in Social Deficits in Autism Spectrum Disorders Using a Theatre‐Based, Peer‐Mediated Intervention

Social Emotional NeuroScience Endocrinology Theatre is a novel intervention program aimed at improving reciprocal social interaction in youth with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) using behavioral strategies and theatrical techniques in a peer-mediated model. Previous research using a 3-month model showed improvement in face perception, social interaction, and reductions in stress. The current study assessed a 2-week summer camp model. Typically developing peers were trained and paired with ASD youth (8-17 years). Social perception and interaction skills were measured before and after treatment using neuropsychological and parental measures. Behavioral coding by reliable, independent raters was conducted within the treatment context (theatre) and outside the setting (playground). Salivary cortisol levels to assess physiological arousal were measured across contexts (home, theatre, and playground). A pretest-posttest design for within-group comparisons was used, and prespecified pairwise comparisons were achieved using a nonparametric Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Significant differences were observed in face processing, social awareness, and social cognition (P < 0.05). Duration of interaction with familiar peers increased significantly over the course of treatment (P < 0.05), while engagement with novel peers outside the treatment setting remained stable. Cortisol levels rose on the first day of camp compared with home values yet declined by the end of treatment and further reduced during posttreatment play with peers. Results corroborate previous findings that the peer-mediated theatre program contributes to improvement in core social deficits in ASD using a short-term, summer camp treatment model. Future studies will explore treatment length and peer familiarity to optimize and generalize gains.

Is Social Anxiety in the Child or in the Anxiety‐Provoking Nature of the Child's Interpersonal Environment?

AbstractGuided by an interactionist Child × Environment perspective on social development, my research indicates that anxious solitary children show both elements of consistency and change in their social behavior across interpersonal environments. This pattern suggests that social anxiety is in part in the child and in part in the interpersonal environment. Anxious solitary children respond to relatively better treatment from unfamiliar versus familiar peers with improved social behavior, which is encouraging from the standpoint of intervention. I discuss the need for further research on the social anxiety as a Child × Environment phenomenon.

Maternal antibodies from mothers of children with autism alter brain growth and social behavior development in the rhesus monkey.

Antibodies directed against fetal brain proteins of 37 and 73 kDa molecular weight are found in approximately 12% of mothers who have children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), but not in mothers of typically developing children. This finding has raised the possibility that these immunoglobulin G (IgG) class antibodies cross the placenta during pregnancy and impact brain development, leading to one form of ASD. We evaluated the pathogenic potential of these antibodies by using a nonhuman primate model. IgG was isolated from mothers of children with ASD (IgG-ASD) and of typically developing children (IgG-CON). The purified IgG was administered to two groups of female rhesus monkeys (IgG-ASD; n=8 and IgG-CON; n=8) during the first and second trimesters of pregnancy. Another control group of pregnant monkeys (n=8) was untreated. Brain and behavioral development of the offspring were assessed for 2 years. Behavioral differences were first detected when the macaque mothers responded to their IgG-ASD offspring with heightened protectiveness during early development. As they matured, IgG-ASD offspring consistently deviated from species-typical social norms by more frequently approaching familiar peers. The increased approach was not reciprocated and did not lead to sustained social interactions. Even more striking, IgG-ASD offspring displayed inappropriate approach behavior to unfamiliar peers, clearly deviating from normal macaque social behavior. Longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging analyses revealed that male IgG-ASD offspring had enlarged brain volume compared with controls. White matter volume increases appeared to be driving the brain differences in the IgG-ASD offspring and these differences were most pronounced in the frontal lobes.

L‐DOPA attenuates prolactin secretion in response to isolation stress in Holstein steers

To clarify endocrine responses to psychological stressors in cattle, the effects of isolation from familiar peers on plasma prolactin (PRL) and cortisol (CORT) concentrations, and the effect of 3,4-dihydroxy-L-phenylalanine (L-DOPA), a precursor of dopamine (DA), on stress-induced PRL secretion were determined in Holstein steers. First, the potency of peripheral L-DOPA administration on attenuation of central DA levels was confirmed. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) collected from a chronic cannula in the third ventricle and plasma were sampled 1 h before and 3 h after intravenous injection of L-DOPA (100 mg/head). DA concentrations in CSF increased just after L-DOPA injection with subsequent decrease in PRL secretion. Injection of L-DOPA increased CORT secretion. Second, one experimental steer was isolated in its stall by removing its peers for 2 h with or without- pre-injection of L-DOPA. The concentration of PRL was elevated by isolation treatment, whereas the effect of isolation on CORT concentration could not be detected. The increase in PRL concentration after isolation was abolished by pre-injection of L-DOPA. These results suggest that PRL responds to isolation and that DA neurons in the central nervous system may regulate stress-induced PRL secretion in steers.

Leaders of spontaneous group movements influence whole-group social organization: an experimental study on grazing heifers

Group-living animals have to reach consensus decisions through recruitment processes while collectively exploiting food resources in heterogeneous environments. In farming conditions, the group compositions are frequently modified, which can force the animals to readjust their collective strategies, e.g., when group leaders are removed. We, therefore, conducted a group-manipulation experiment for testing how the loss of the individual with the highest leadership score in spontaneous group movements is likely to influence decision-making and whole-group social organization. Observations were carried out in two groups of nine familiar heifers, as using animals of the same age-class simplifies the analysis of the proximate determinants of leadership. Under the hypothesis of distributed leadership, we expected the emergence of a new leader but no change in social relationships due to the stability of dominance hierarchy and affinities among the familiar remaining heifers. Both group leaders were heifers that had a low cohesion index and expressed few allogrooming interactions. Leadership did not relate to position in the dominance hierarchy. After removing the leader and replacing it with a familiar peer, the number of spontaneous group movements decreased by 40% in both groups, and no new leader emerged. Both groups maintained a structure after leader removal but the distribution of pairwise association was modified. Allogrooming interactions dropped by nearly 60% in one group and their overall distribution were modified in the other group. These findings demonstrate interrelations between various social traits — even in the case of same-age herbivore groups — and difficulties with rapidly reaching a new consensus for maintaining synchronized activity and group cohesion.

The Presence of a Familiar Peer Does Not Affect Intensity or Enjoyment during Treadmill Exercise in Male Distance Runners or Non-Runners

The Presence of a Familiar Peer Does Not Affect Intensity or Enjoyment during Treadmill Exercise in Male Distance Runners or Non-Runners The purpose of this study was to experimentally test the effect of the exercising with a partner (versus alone) on the intensity, enjoyment, and ratings of perceived exertion (RPE) of self-paced treadmill exercise in competitive male runners and non-runner controls. Collegiate male distance runners (N=14, 20.2 ± 1.4 yr) and non-runner controls (N=10, 22.6 ± 2.01 yr) completed two exercise trials under differing social conditions (alone, with a peer) in a counterbalanced order. Exercise trials each consisted of 30-minutes of self-paced treadmill exercise with grade fixed at 0% and speed controlled voluntarily by the participant. During one visit participants exercised on a treadmill alone (alone condition). During the other visit participants exercised with a familiar peer on an identical treadmill adjacent to their own (peer condition). Total distance covered (km), average treadmill speed (km∙hr-1), enjoyment of the exercise (mm), heart rate (beats∙min-1), and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were assessed in each condition. Mixed-model regression analysis showed no significant (p ≥ 0.40) main effect of social condition in either group for any of the dependent variables. These results suggest that the presence of a familiar peer does not alter exercise behavior or enjoyment during treadmill exercise.

Young children are more generous when others are aware of their actions.

Adults frequently employ reputation-enhancing strategies when engaging in prosocial acts, behaving more generously when their actions are likely to be witnessed by others and even more so when the extent of their generosity is made public. This study examined the developmental origins of sensitivity to cues associated with reputationally motivated prosociality by presenting five-year-olds with the option to provide one or four stickers to a familiar peer recipient at no cost to themselves. We systematically manipulated the recipient’s knowledge of the actor’s choices in two different ways: (1) occluding the recipient’s view of both the actor and the allocation options and (2) presenting allocations in opaque containers whose contents were visible only to the actor. Children were consistently generous only when the recipient was fully aware of the donation options; in all cases in which the recipient was not aware of the donation options, children were strikingly ungenerous. These results demonstrate that five-year-olds exhibit “strategic prosociality,” behaving differentially generous as a function of the amount of information available to the recipient about their actions. These findings suggest that long before they develop a rich understanding of the social significance of reputation or are conscious of complex strategic reasoning, children behave more generously when the details of their prosocial actions are available to others.

Boys affiliate more than girls with a familiar same-sex peer

Evidence from ethnographic, observational, and experimental studies with humans converges to suggest that males affiliate more than females with unrelated, familiar same-sex peers, but this has never been examined directly. With this aim, we compared frequency of affiliation with a single, randomly chosen, familiar same-sex peer for the two sexes during early childhood. A focal child was brought to a room with three play areas—one containing a same-sex peer, one containing an adult, and one empty—and time spent with the peer was tabulated. Results demonstrated that boys visited the play area with the same-sex peer more frequently than girls did, and more boys than girls spent significant amounts of time with the peer. Human males’ greater willingness to affiliate with randomly chosen familiar peers likely contributes to sex differences in a number of characteristics of humans’ social interactions.

Speech presentation cues moderate frontal EEG asymmetry in socially withdrawn young adults

Socially withdrawn individuals display solitary behavior across wide contexts with both unfamiliar and familiar peers. This tendency to withdraw may be driven by either past or anticipated negative social encounters. In addition, socially withdrawn individuals often exhibit right frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry at baseline and when under stress. In the current study we examined shifts in frontal EEG activity in young adults ( N = 41) at baseline, as they viewed either an anxiety-provoking or a benign speech video, and as they subsequently prepared for their own speech. Results indicated that right frontal EEG activity increased, relative to the left, only for socially withdrawn participants exposed to the anxious video. These results suggest that contextual affective cues may prime an individual’s response to stress, particularly if they illustrate or substantiate an anticipated negative event.

Social Anxiety and Adolescents’ Friendships

Research indicates social anxiety is associated with lower friendship quality, but little is known about the underlying mechanisms. This 2-month longitudinal study examined social withdrawal as a mediator of the social anxiety–friendship quality link in a sample of 214 adolescents ( Mage = 13.1 years, SD = .73) that included an oversampling of adolescents recently relocated to the community ( n = 155). Findings provided preliminary support for the hypothesized models, in which social anxiety is associated with social withdrawal, which in turn is related to lower companionship and intimacy in adolescents’ friendships. Analyses testing whether relocation to a new community intensifies these associations indicated additive, but not multiplicative, effects of social anxiety and relocation on friendship companionship and intimacy. Implications include the importance of increasing socially anxious youths’ social engagement and skills with friends as well as with less familiar peers.

Social Interaction Promotes Nicotine Self-Administration with Olfactogustatory Cues in Adolescent Rats

Cigarette smoking is a social behavior. Smoking is also accompanied by distinctive gustatory and olfactory stimulation. However, none of these factors affecting nicotine intake are modeled in existing preclinical studies. We report a novel model of adolescent nicotine self-administration (SA) in rats where licking on drinking spouts was used as the operant behavior to activate the concurrent delivery of nicotine (i.v.) and an appetitive olfactogustatory (OG) cue, and social interaction was required for stable SA. The operant chamber was divided by a panel that separated the SA rat and another rat serving as the demonstrator, who had free access to the OG cue but did not receive nicotine. Orofacial contacts were permitted by the divider. Conditioned taste aversion prevented solo rats to self-administer nicotine. However, stable nicotine (15-30 μg/kg, free base) SA was established in the presence of demonstrator rats with free access to the OG cue. Omitting the olfactory component of the cue prevented the acquisition of nicotine SA. Mecamylamine, a nicotinic antagonist, reduced licking behavior. Familiar peers were more effective demonstrators in facilitating the acquisition of nicotine SA than were unfamiliar rats. No sex difference in nicotine intake was found. These data indicate that the contingent OG cue is associated with the aversive property of nicotine that prevents subsequent drug intake. Social information encoded in olfaction not only permits the establishment of stable nicotine SA but also enhances nicotine intake. These findings implicate adolescent social interactions in promoting smoking behavior by surmounting the aversive property of nicotine.

Theory of Mind and Social Interest in Zero-Acquaintance Play Situations

Many studies have examined associations between children's theory of mind and social behavior with familiar peers, but to date none have examined how theory of mind might relate to behavior toward unfamiliar peers in a play setting. Forty-four 4-year-olds (21 girls, 23 boys) participated in standard theory-of-mind tasks and in a play session with 3 or 4 other children who were unfamiliar. Children were also tested on general vocabulary ability. No relations were found between theory of mind and social engagement. However, positive associations were found between theory of mind and time spent observing, but not interacting with, other children. Possible explanations of the links between theory of mind, temperament, and social interest are considered.

Does It Bite? The Role of Stimuli Characteristics on Preschoolers’ Interactions with Robots, Insects and a Dog

ABSTRACTWhile there is increasing interest in the impact of animal interactions upon children's wellbeing and attitudes, there has been less attention paid to the specific characteristics of the animals that attract and engage children. We used a within-subjects design to explore how differences in animal features (such as their animacy, size, and texture) impacted upon pre-school children's social and emotional responses. This study examined pre-schoolers' interactions with two animal-like robots (Teksta and Scoozie), two insect types (stick insects and hissing cockroaches) and a dog (Teasel, a West Highland Terrier). Nineteen preschool participants aged 35–57 months were videoed while interacting with the experimenter, a peer, and each stimulus (presented individually). We used both verbal and nonverbal behaviors to evaluate interactions and emotional responses to the stimuli and found that these two measures could be incongruent, highlighting the need for systematic approaches to evaluating children's interactions with animals. We categorized the content of children's dialogues in relation to psychological and biological attributes of each stimulus and their distinctions between living and non-living stimuli; the majority of comments were biological, with psychological terms largely reserved for the dog and mammal-like robot only. Comments relating to living qualities revealed ambiguity towards attributes that denote differences between living and non-living creatures. We used a range of nonverbal measures, including willingness to approach and touch stimuli, rates of self-touching, facial expressions of emotion, and touch to others. Insects (hissing cockroaches and stick insects) received the most negative verbal and nonverbal responses. The mammal-like robot (rounded, fluffy body shape, large eyes, and sympathetic sounds) was viewed much more positively than its metallic counterpart, as was the real dog. We propose that these interactions provide information on how children perceive animals and a platform for the examination of human socio-emotional and cognitive development more generally. The children engaged in social referencing to the adult experimenter rather than familiar peers when uncertain about the stimuli presented, suggesting that caregivers have a primary role in shaping children's responses to animals.