DOMINANCE AND VISUAL ATTENTION RANK ORDERS IN PRESCHOOL GROUPS

Development of social structure in primates, including humans, may be understood in terms of changes in the distribution of visual attention (Chance & Larsen, 1776). Social hierarchies are thought to develop gradually as children attend more to peers and Less to objects or adults. Attention to peers makes possible a stable rank order, in which dominant individuals receive more unilateral visual regard than subordinates. The former direct their attention to exploration of the environment rather than to group members. Hence, visual attention rank should become more positively related to dominance rank among children with increasing age. An ethological study was conducted to assess independently dominance and visual attention over 7 mo. in four groups of young white, middle-class children of mean age 2 yr. (n = lo), 3 yr. (n = IS), 4 yr. (n = 18), and 5 yr. (n = 21). Twentyseven boys and 37 girls were observed; boys and girls were equally distributed across classes. To measure dominance, each child was observed for 10 5-min. periods during free play and for each instance of aggression, assertiveness, passive dominance, and prosocial behavior, the child was defined as dominant if his preference or well-being determined the outcome. Each child's dominance rank within his class was determined from a matrix of dominant-subordinate interactions, with higher ranking children dominant over more classmates than lower ranking children. To measure visual anention, an observer unfamiliar with the dominance records noted the visual foci of each child for 10 separate 1-min. periods over 7 mo. Socialattention rank order was derived from a matrix of "looking at-looked at" frequencies for each child; the more frequently a child was the object of unilateral regard (i.e., the child looked at classmates less frequently than others watched the child), the higher the child's visual attention rank. Reliabilities for both ranks exceeded a criterion of 70% agreement between independent observers. Spearman correlations between dominance and visual attention ranks confirmed the hypothesized developmental progression (36 for 2-yr.-olds; .24 for 3-yr.-olds; .GO (p < .01) for 4-yr.-olds; and .43 (p < .05) for 5-yr.-olds). Boys formed more definite hierarchies than girls and dominated cross-sex interactions (xa = 6.64, p < .01). Group differences in visual regard showed that scanning decreased with age (s = -.71, p < .001), while attention to peers increased (r = .59, p < .01), but time spent looking at objects remained stable (r = --.04). In general, girls looked at peers (M = 154 sec., SD = 92) more than did boys (M = 109 sec., SD = Gl), who preferred obiects. The results suggest that both dominance hierarchies and patterns of visual regard develop together during the preschool years. In the groups studied, dominant individuals, usually boys, receive more unilateral regard but direct relatively more attencion to objects and exploration of the environment, while girls, more often subordinate, are relatively more peer-directed in their visual attention. Hence, dominance rank may have implications for sex differences in cognitive and social development. REFERENCE