Requests, refusals, and reasons in children's negotiations

Conflict situations were studied as indicators of children's socio-cognitive knowledge and the transmission of values in relation to negotiation. Concepts and paradigms from studies of requests were combined with those from studies of refusals. Puppets were used to create situations that varied (a) as to whether the child makes a request and encounters opposition (requests) or receives a request and offers opposition (refusals), (b) whether the adult offers or does not offer a reason. Children aged 3–5 years (Sample 1, N = 24; Sample 2, N = 24) were encouraged to make a series of attempts at resolving the conflict. Their responses were scored for the level of politeness or strategic skill shown. Request situations elicited higher levels of politeness and strategic skill than did refusal situations. In contrast to disputes in which the other party did not use reasons, the use of a reason by the other party elicited higher level strategies and, when the children were refusing, greater politeness. Some children were able to improve on their first attempt. The improvement was most marked when children were requesting and the adult gave a reason.