Children's reasoning about evaluative feedback

Children's reasoning about the willingness of peers to convey accurate positive and negative performance feedback to others was investigated among a total of 179 6‐ to 11‐year‐olds from the USA and China. In Study 1, which was conducted in the USA only, participants responded that peers would be more likely to provide positive feedback than negative feedback, and this tendency was strongest among the younger children. In Study 2, the expectation that peers would preferentially disclose positive feedback was replicated among children from the USA, and was also seen among younger but not older children from China. Participants in all groups took the relationship between communication partners into account when predicting whether peers would express evaluative feedback. Results of open‐ended responses suggested cross‐cultural differences, including a greater emphasis by Chinese children on the implications of evaluative feedback for future performance, and reference by some older Chinese children to the possibility that positive feedback might make the recipient ‘too proud’.