Children's Perception of Friends and Non-Friends

Assuming we view other persons, not as they are, but as they are in relation to ourselves, it is hypo'zed that: 'one will perceive one's friends as possessing desirable qualities to a greater degree than oneself, & one's non-friends as possessing these to a lesser degree.' 32 7th grade girls in a girls' private sch are part of the exp. To determine a girl's friends & non-friends, a sociometric test was administered with 3 choices & 3 criteria, the criteria being (1) spending recess, (2) working on a geography project, & (3) going to the movies. Next, a rating scale is devised (with the girls' help), which includes a 5-point measurement for each of 10 qualities felt to be culturally desirable. Each girl is then given 10 rating forms: 1 is to be filled out for herself by herself; 2 for sociometricly determined friends; & 7 for sociometricly determined non-friends. It is found that there does exist a difference between the ratings given to friends & non-friends, ratings given to friends are signif higher (p above .05) for friends than for non-friends on each of the 10 qualities except one called 'humor'. Also, one tends to rate one's friends higher than oneself, & one's non-friends lower than oneself on 9 of the characteristics. Thus the hypo is accepted: 'we perceive people in terms of their social value to us.' S. Shively.