Young Children's Affective Responses to Acceptance and Rejection From Peers: A Computer‐based Task Sensitive to Variation in Temperamental Shyness and Gender

Abstract

This study presents a novel task examining young children’s affective responses to evaluative feedback—specifically, social acceptance and rejection—from peers. We aimed to determine (1) whether young children report their affective responses to hypothetical peer evaluation predictably and consistently, and (2) whether young children’s responses to peer evaluation vary as a function of temperamental shyness and gender. Four- to seven-year-old children (N = 48) sorted pictures of unknown, similar-aged children into those with whom they wished or did not wish to play. Computerized peer evaluation later noted whether the pictured children were interested in a future playdate with participants. Participants then rated their affective responses to each acceptance or rejection event. Children were happy when accepted by children with whom they wanted to play, and disappointed when these children rejected them. Highly shy boys showed a wider range of responses to acceptance and rejection based on initial social interest, and may be particularly sensitive to both positive and negative evaluation. Overall, the playdate task captures individual differences in affective responses to evaluative peer feedback and is potentially amenable to future applications in research with young children, including pairings with psychophysiological measures.

Lasting associations between early-childhood temperament and late-adolescent reward-circuitry response to peer feedback

“…Furthermore, given that the social difficulties differentiating these temperament groups were more apparent earlier in development, the present findings suggest that intervening with extremely socially hesitant and withdrawn young children could reshape the brain's coding of motivated behavior toward peers. Work that used a variant of the present study's Chatroom Task found that extremely shy 4- to 7-year-old boys showed particular sensitivity to both positive and negative bids of peer evaluation (Howarth, Guyer, & Perez-Edgar, 2013).…”

Rejection Reactivity, Executive Function Skills, and Social Adjustment Problems of Inattentive and Hyperactive Kindergarteners

“…Hence, the findings may not generalize to other populations. For example, rejection reactivity may play a different role in children without elevated inattention and hyperactivity as these associations may be different in other children (e.g., temperamentally shy boys are more reactive to rejection than non-shy boys; Howarth, Guyer, & Perez-Edgar, 2013). …”

The beneficial effects of a positive attention bias amongst children with a history of psychosocial deprivation

“…The peer evaluation task was adapted from a previously-validated task used with children as young as age 4 years (Howarth, Guyer, & Pérez-Edgar, 2013). In a study visit prior to the physiological reactivity session, participants were told that they would be playing a game to learn how children choose friends in the next study visit.…”