The Narrative Construction of Differing Conceptions of the Person in the Development of Young Children's Social Understanding

Abstract

The study reported here used a systematic interpretive analysis of young children's spontaneous narratives to investigate the development of their conceptions of the person. We argue that currently predominant approaches to this subject in social cognition research are insufficiently sociocultural and need to be broadened and reoriented (a) to capture the social (rather than purely mentalistic) dimension inherent in any conception of the person, (b) to examine how the development of children's conception of the person involves the selective appropriation of culturally elaborated models of personhood, and therefore (c) to recognize that children develop and employ different conceptions of the person, in ways that are socioculturally patterned. The study examined a body of 598 stories generated by 30 preschool children (5 girls and 5 boys in 3 age cohorts: 3s, 4s, and 5s) through a storytelling and story-acting practice that was a regular (but voluntary) part of their classroom activities for the entire school year. Analyses indicated that in their narratives the girls and boys constructed and elaborated two distinctive gender-related conceptions of the person: girls a socially embedded and interdependent person, who becomes increasingly individuated and self-consciously responsible; boys a separate and agonistic person, who increasingly becomes a stable, autonomous, and self-conscious mental agent. Typologies are presented to delineate and compare the developmental pathways of these two gender-related models of personhood. Some implications for early childhood education are also discussed.