Impact of Discussion on Peer Evaluations: Perceptions of Low Achievement and Effort

The authors placed 5th-grade students into small groups of 3 in order to examine the impact of group discussion and displayed effort on children's evaluations of a low-achieving peer. Low effort by a target peer resulted in negative evaluations across attributional, affective, help-giving, and social response dimensions. Children who participated in group discussion before making individual evaluations exhibited a polarizing effect in which more extreme evaluations were made than when children did not participate in group discussion. Although all children were affected by both effort level and discussion conditions, gender differences were observed. These findings (a) highlight the importance of addressing the role of the peer group when working with low-achieving children and (b) underscore the impact of effort attributions and low achievement on peer perceptions among elementary-age children.