Development of the understanding of character constancy: Expectations of the behavior of friendly and unfriendly peers

Abstract: This study examines developmental changes in the tendency of young children to form generalized expectations of the behavior of friendly and unfriendly classmates in their nursery school. Subjects aged 4, 5, and 6 selected friendly, unfriendly, and neutral peers according to their expected behavior in a particular situation and then predicted the peers' behavior in four situations, one of which was similar to that used in the selection process. It was found that at the age of 4 the expectations of the behavior of unfriendly peers differed from those of the behavior of the other peers, and that by the age of 5 the expectations of the behavior of friendly peers were fairly consistent across different situations. Additionally, the results agreed with our hypothesis that younger children's expectations regarding their peers' behavior toward them are more stable and congruous with the peers' character type than those toward an imaginary friend, as far as the expectations of unfriendly peers' behavior is concerned.