An Ethological Study of Peaceful Associative Outcomes to Conflict in Preschool Children

SACKIN, STEVE, and THELEN, ESTHER. An Ethological Study of Peaceful Associative Outcomes to Conflict in Preschool Children. CHILD DEVELOPMENT, 1984, 55, 1098-1102. Most, but not all, preschool conflicts end with 1 child signaling subordination (losing) and the 2 children playing apart. We identified a class of nonsubordinate, friendly behaviors used at conflict termination, which we termed conciliatory behaviors. In this study, we asked if there was a relationship between the behaviors occurring at conflict termination, subordinate or conciliatory, and the nature of the subsequent interaction, that is, if the children separated or played peacefully together. 20 5-year-old children in 2 different preschools were observed naturalistically for 100 hours. Subordinate behaviors were consistently associated with separation after conflict. Conciliatory behaviors were nearly always followed by peaceful associative outcomes. Conciliatory behaviors were offered more frequently to children of the same sex. These gestures appeared to play an important role in the resolution of social tension in these preschoolers.