Abstract
Links between the development of social understanding and social processes are considered, in the context of data on the development of causal reasoning and argument in conflict, drawn from a longitudinal study of 50 children observed in conversation with their mothers, siblings, and friends at 33 and 47 months of age. Children showed powers of causal reasoning before they were 3 years, capabilities that showed rapid developmental change; their interest in cause was particularly focussed on psychological causality and social action. The contexts of disputes were especially important. Differences were found in children’s arguments with their mothers, siblings, and friends, with more ‘other-oriented’ reasoning shown with friends. It is argued that the data support Vygotskyan ideas on the significance of social interaction in developmental advance, that the pragmatics of what children and their partners are trying to do must be taken into account in considering what children may be learning in interactions, and that ‘social competence’ should not be treated as an individual within-child trait, but that we should move towards a ‘relationships’ approach to the development of social understanding.
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This study was supported on a grant from NICHD (HD 23158).
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Dunn, J. Social interaction, relationships, and the development of causal discourse and conflict management. Eur J Psychol Educ 8, 391–401 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03172696
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03172696