Children's Perceptions of the Outcomes of Social Strategies: Do the Ends Justify Being Mean?

Two studies were conducted to examine the strategy outcome perceptions of popular, average, neglected, and rejected 3rd- and 5th-graders. In Study 1, children (n = 127) described the likely outcomes of 6 types of strategies (e.g., physical aggression, commands, compromise) in open-ended, hypothetical situation interviews. In Study 2 (n = 339), a questionnaire was used to assess children's outcome expectations and their evaluations of selected strategies. Findings indicate that children's outcome expectations and strategy evaluations vary as a function of peer status, age, and gender. Results from both studies are discussed in terms of an hypothesized relation between children's strategy outcome perceptions and their behavior in the peer group.