Abstract

Studied if and how 5-years-old children modify their behaviours toward partners in a cooperative situation after an adult provided them a praise on their ability to perform a task. Moreover, this study aimed to analyse gender differences and praise effects changes during the interaction. The research followed a pre-post design. 74 sub-jects (37 males and 37 females) were observed twice, with a 2 week interval, performing a task with a partner of same sex, age and level of competence. Subjects were randomly assigned to the experimental (19 males and 19 females) and the control groups (18 males and 18 females). The experimental group received a praise by the experimenter before playing with the partner in the second session. The results show that the adult praise reduces subjects' cooperation and affect toward their partner and increases behaviours addressed to the adult. The effects of praise change during the interaction and as a function of gender.