Cooperative Games and Children's Positive Behaviors

Participants included 39 children, 20 boys and 19 girls, ranging in age from 4 years 0 months to 4 years 6 months. Children's behaviors during cooperative and competitive games were documented using the Observation Checklist of Children's Behavior [OCCB; Grineski, 1989b]. Children participated in a six week treatment period of cooperative and competitive games. More positive behaviors were observed during cooperative games than competitive games. More negative behaviors were observed during competitive games, but only during the first week of competitive games. Teachers' warmth and nurturance was measured using the CIS [Arnett, 1989], but these scores did not impact children's positive and negative scores in any statistically significant way. Results are explained using Tharp and Gallimore's [1998] work on classroom climate and Gottman ef a#sh.'s [1997] work on interactional set-points within a classroom.