DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNDERSTANDING OF CHARACTER CONSTANCY - EXPECTATIONS OF THE BEHAVIOR OF FRIENDLY AND UNFRIENDLY PEERS

This study examines developmental changes in the tendency of young chi ldren to form generalized expectations of the behavior of friendly and unfriendly classmates in their nursery school. Subjects aged 4, 5, an d 6 selected friendly, unfriendly, and neutral peers according to thei r expected behavior in a particular situation and then predicted the p eers' behavior in four situations, one of which was similar to that us ed in the selection process. It was found that at the age of 4 the exp ectations of the behavior of unfriendly peers differed from those of t he behavior of the other peers, and that by the age of 5 the expectati ons of the behavior of friendly peers were fairly consistent across di fferent situations. Additionally, the results agreed with our hypothes is that younger children's expectations regarding their peers behavior toward them are more stable and congruous with the peers' character t ype than those toward an imaginary friend, as far as the expectations of unfriendly peers' behavior is concerned.