Abstract
The present study investigated if preschool children’s intention understanding could predict their use of other-oriented conflict resolution strategies. Participants were 30 preschool children (13 girls, Mage = 4.46 years, SD = 0.73, range: 3.21–5.50 years). The children were observed for their conflict resolution strategies during freeplay at school for one 30-min session per day on three separate days. Conflict resolution strategies were coded into two broad categories: “self-oriented strategies” that did not recognize the opponents’ needs and wants, and “other-oriented strategies” that took into account others’ perspectives. To assess children’s understanding of intentions, children were presented with three sets of story pairs adapted from Astington and Lee’s (What do children know about intentional causation? Paper presented at the biennial meeting of the Society for Research in Child Development, Seattle, WA, 1991) study. After controlling for age and language ability, children with more robust understandings of intentions tended to utilize greater percentages of other-oriented resolution strategies during peer conflicts. Implications for how early childhood educators can support young children’s understanding of intentions and conflict resolution behaviors are discussed.
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Appendices
Appendix A
Observation Coding Guide
A conflict begins after an initial opposition. That is, if Child A tries to influence Child B, Child B’s verbal or physical opposition (e.g., disagreeing, correcting, accusing, insulting, challenging, or ignoring Person A’s request) initiates a conflict episode. Child A or B can be the target child.
Once a conflict episode begins, all of the target child’s verbal and nonverbal turns can be coded as self- or other-oriented strategies.
Conflicts end when one speaker’s oppositional turn no longer elicits an oppositional turn from the other or when a teacher intervenes.
Self-Oriented Strategies
The target children’s verbal or physical tactics that only purport their own goals with little consideration of the opponents' goals during a conflict.
Other-Oriented Strategies
The strategies that coordinate both the target children’s and opponents' viewpoints.
Appendix B
Intention Story Set #1
Intentional
Emily sees Jane drawing with a crayon at the table. Emily walks over to Jane.
Emily grabs Jane’s crayon and puts it in her backpack.
The crayon is in Emily’s backpack.
Unintentional
Olivia sees Sally drawing with a crayon at the table. Olivia walks over to Sally.
Olivia bumps into the table. Sally’s crayon rolls into Olivia’s backpack.
The crayon is in Olivia’s backpack.
Test Question:
Which girl, Emily or Jane, planned to have a crayon in her backpack?
Intention Story Set #2
Intentional
Madeline is gathering up all the books from the bookshelf. Allison is sitting on the rug.
Madeline walks towards the rug and gives Allison a book.
Allison now has a book to read.
Unintentional
Wendy is gathering up all the books from the bookshelf. Jackie is sitting on the rug.
Wendy walks towards the rug and a book drops behind her.
Jackie now has a book to read.
Test Question:
Which girl, Madeline or Wendy, planned for the other girl to have a book to read?
Intention Story Set #3
Intentional
Abby is sitting next to Natalie. Both are eating lunch at the lunch table.
Abby picks up her cup of water. Abby pours the water onto Natalie.
Natalie is now all wet.
Unintentional
Jessica is sitting next to Kelly. Both are eating lunch at the lunch table.
Jessica picks up her cup of water. The cup slips out of out of Jessica’s hands and lands on Kelly.
Kelly is now all wet.
Test Question:
Which girl, Abby or Jessica, planned for the other girl to get wet?
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Pieng, P., Okamoto, Y. Examining Preschool Children’s Intention Understanding and Their Conflict Resolution Strategies. Early Childhood Educ J 48, 597–606 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-020-01020-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-020-01020-0