Citation

Leman PJ, Björnberg M. Child Dev. 2010; 81(3): 958-971.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01445.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

One hundred thirty‐three children, average age 9.58 years, were read vignettes describing a moral transgression and then discussed what would constitute a fair punishment. Children’s gender influenced conversation dynamics (use of interruption and other simultaneous speech) but not conversation content (justifications for judgments). All children who engaged in conversation showed development in judgments after 8 weeks compared with a control (no interaction) group. However, there was no relation between conversation dynamics or content and development, or any effects of gender, on the developmental process. The benefits of peer collaboration were general rather than specific to the stimulus story.