Emergent Leadership in Children's Small Groups

Abstract

The behavior of children in cooperative decision-making tasks was coded in two investigations of leadership. Children in two studies (second, fourth, and sixth grade in Study 1, and fourth grade in Study 2) individually rankedpictures by preference and then were videotaped as they developed a group consensus ranking. The exhibition of various group behaviors was coded, and correlations between these frequencies and proximal and distal measures of leadership status were computed. Consistent with expectations, task facilitation, solicitations of opinion, and recording were associated with leadership status. These results are consistent with the view that leadership status in cooperative group settings is associated with task facilitative behavior.