| Abstract: | ![]()
Two types of leaders have been contrasted in the child study literature since the early 1930's, one group-oriented, the other, self-oriented. In the present research, systematic observations of boys of each type are made on the school playground, where these patterns have been observed in the past, and in the more intimate, less competitive situation of the back yard. Six group-oriented leaders and six self-oriented leaders were selected from the third grades of four New England public schools on the basis of a teacher's rating and ratings by two previous observers of the boys. During the winter and spring of 1954 these twelve nine-year-old boys were observed on the playground during a free play period and in the neighborhood, using the set of categories for interaction process analysis developed by Bales. The clinical judgments of teachers and social scientists are not entirely validated since boys of both leader types show the same amount of aggression on the school playground, although the self-oriented leader is more aggressive in the neighborhood. Other expected differences appear since the self-oriented leader gives fewer suggestions and shows more tension in both situations. The major finding of this research is that there are more differences between situations than between the two leader styles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
