29th Annual Student Research Conference
Peer and Adult Persuasion Techniques Used by Preschool Children Ages 3 to 5
Chelsie K. Yokum
Dr. Bev Perrachione , Faculty Mentor
Research has shown that children begin developing persuasion knowledge during the preschool years, ages 2 to 5, so it is important to understand how this development occurs. Most of the established research on persuasion and children focuses on either children's persuasion of peers or of adults, but there is little regarding the differences in persuasion tactics between these groups, so the purpose of this study was to fill in this gap. To explore these differences, the present study recruited fifteen preschool children from an early childhood center in northeast Missouri. After controlling for language ability and theory of mind, the researcher presented children with dolls in a simulated peer figure and adult figure persuasion task. Participants' persuasion techniques were coded and analyzed. It was hypothesized that there are differences between the techniques preschool children use to persuade peers versus adults. Overall, peer persuasion was found to be less advanced than adult persuasion.
Keywords: Preschool, Persuasion , Communication , Theory of Mind , Early Childhood Education
Topic(s):Education
Communication
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: -1
Location: VH 1224
Time: 9:30