INTERACTIVE TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIAL SKILLS TRAINING: AN ANALYSIS OF PROCESS AND OUTCOME (ELEMENTARY SCHOOL, COUNSELING, COMPUTERS, DEVELOPMENTAL, ATTRIBUTIONS)

The purpose of this intervention study was to coach unpopular children in the use of social negotiation strategies in an attempt to improve their peer status. The study compared the effects of computer-coaching with adult-coaching and an attention-control. It also explored differences in unpopular children's response to treatment as defined by their status as neglected or rejected children and by their attributions for rejection.; The sample consisted of 30 fourth- and fifth-grade children. There were an equal number of boys and girls all of whom scored in the lower third of their classes on a sociometric measure for popularity. Half of the children were rejected (i.e., disliked) and half were neglected (i.e., ignored). All children were randomly assigned to treatment.; Children in the two treatment conditions were individually coached in one session per week for eight weeks. The focus of the session was a social dilemma that the children solved by selecting strategies and predicting outcomes. After working with the computer or the adult-coach, individual target children were joined by an average or popular same-sex peer to role-play the dilemma in front of a video camera. The control children and their partners were videotaped as they took turns talking about neutral topics.; Outcome measures were based on posttest comparisons of classmates' sociometric ratings of general social acceptance and friendship (Oden & Asher, 1977) and subjects' responses to an attributions for rejection questionnaire (Goetz & Dweck, 1980). Process measures were based on a developmental evaluation of the students' social negotiation strategies in the coaching and roleplay sessions (Selman, 1982).; The computer-coaching children were more popular at posttest and at the six-week follow-up than the adult-coaching group, although neither differed significantly from the attention-control. During the coaching procedure, the computer-coaching children chose a wider range of strategies that included aggressive and cooperative behaviors, whereas the adult-coaching children selected and acted out significantly more collaborative and fewer aggressive strategies than the computer-coaching children.; It was suggested that the computer-coaching condition was successful because it promoted autonomy and experimentation rather than the rehearsal of correct answers. The paper concludes with a proposal for further research and development of computer-based components for social-skills training programs for older children in the elementary grades.