The Role of the Group in Peer Group Entry

This study explored psychological conditions affecting children's receptiveness to a newcomer (the guest) in a peer group entry task. Subjects were 93 host dyads (48 male) of 7- to 9-year-old children. Hosts played a word-naming game for 5 min before being joined by a male or female guest. The hosts' pre-entry interaction was coded to reflect an orientation toward the game (agentic) or toward each other and toward experimental setting demands (communal). Hosts' psychological orientation predicted entry outcomes. Specifically, hosts of excluded children verbally competed with each other (an aspect of agency) more than hosts of children who entered. Male hosts competed more than female hosts and female hosts helped and encouraged each other (aspects of the communal orientation) more than male hosts. These findings suggest that the strategies and effort required by children to achieve group entry may depend on prior psychological conditions attending the interaction of the peer group.