Child’s play or risky business? The development of teasing functions and relational implications in school-aged children

Abstract

Teasing is both a playful act that can be used to convey closeness among friends and a hurtful act that can create distance among enemies. This study explores the nature of this complicated communicative act and how it changes with age, as evidenced in children’s talk through in-depth interviews with participants in 3rd, 6th, and 10th grade. In fact, children and teens deftly use the term “teasing” to mean different things. Teasing for third graders is a negative activity used only among disliked peers. It can be used to harm and hurt feelings. In fact, any positive banter between children is referred to as “just teasing,” which is different from teasing. Although negative teasing persists throughout childhood, by sixth grade, children have learned to use teasing with friends by relying on relational cues to interpret the ambiguous act and begin to see teasing as a functional activity. By 10th grade, teens continued social and cognitive development correspond with their use of teasing to build relationships, broach difficult topics, and manage embarrassing situations. Recommendations are made for better understanding how adults, teachers, and researchers might better approach teasing developmentally, as well as why we should consider further work to help understand its relationship to bullying and harassment, while retaining the prosocial aspects of teasing.

Just a Joke? The Thin Line between Teasing, Harassment and Violence among Teenage Boys in Lower Secondary School

“…. Teasing can be expressed as a playful act between friends, but it can also be an expression of dislike and a cruel act toward others (Mills, 2018). Psychological studies have shown that teasing can vary considerably in different kinds of social interactions, and there are also complex patterns of social class, gender, and teasing behaviors (see, e.g., Keltner, et al, 1998Keltner, et al, , 2001.…”

Just kidding: the evolutionary roots of playful teasing

“…The reactions of the targeted individuals were variable, ranging from ignoring to aggression, submission, flight or affiliation, and negative responses appeared to reinforce the teasing behaviour [ 38 ]. Adang theorized that juveniles used teasing to learn about or to establish dominance relationships (a function of teasing that has also been proposed for third- to sixth-grade human children [ 9 ]). Similar forms of aggressive teasing have also been observed in wild chimpanzee populations [ 47 , 52 , 53 , 57 ] and in other primate species (e.g.…”

“…Be it as teaser, recipient or observer, from early childhood onwards, everyone experiences this hard-to-define phenomenon that occurs in social interactions all around the world [2]. Its inherent dichotomythe mix between aggressive and playful elements-can affect the relationship between teaser and recipient in contrasting ways [3][4][5][6][7][8][9]. If the aggressive component predominates, teasing may be perceived as more hostile, or even as bullying, and has the power to result in serious harm and damage a relationship permanently.…”

“…[10,11]). Accordingly, the proposed functions of teasing are highly diverse and range from gaining social status to enforcing social norms, resolving conflicts and enhancing interpersonal relationships [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. From a psychological perspective, playful teasing 1 , i.e.…”

“…In line with the hypothesis that playful teasing is a cognitively complex form of teasing, studies have shown that teasing is viewed as a potentially positive social interaction only by older children and adolescents. Younger children, by contrast, recognized only the negative sides of teasing [9,12,13]. The second reason playful teasing is interesting psychologically is that it has potential to create mutual amusement.…”