MEETING GOALS AND CONFRONTING CONFLICT - CHILDRENS CHANGING PERCEPTIONS OF SOCIAL-COMPARISON

It was proposed that previously observed grade-related changes in chil dren's social comparison behavior could be explained by the changing g oals and meanings children assign to this behavior. Specifically, it w as suggested that, as children progress through the school system, the y become increasingly aware of the negative and positive aspects of so cial comparison and adjust their behavior in response to this awarenes s, as well as to increasingly salient self-evaluation goals. To examin e these propositions, 106 elementary school children were observed in their classrooms and interviewed once a year for 3 years. Consistent w ith previous research, overt forms of social comparison were most freq uent among younger children, whereas subtle forms of social comparison were most frequent among older children. Furthermore, with increasing grade children were likely to view overt forms of social comparison n egatively and subtle forms as useful in meeting self-evaluation goals. Additional analyses revealed little association between perceptions o f social comparison and actual social comparison behavior, except that perceiving subtle social comparison as useful for self-evaluative goa ls predicted engagement in such behavior 2 years later.