Social Psychological Features of Correlation between Primary School Students' Normativity and Class Intragroup Structure

The paper presents results of the social psychological research on the specifics of intragroup structuring in a group of primary school students and the normativity of the latter. The empirical data was obtained through sociometry, reference assessment technique, a technique for identifying intragroup structure of formal authority in groups, and «Perception of normative situation» technique. The results show that the character of normativity display in students of different classes varies depending on their inclusion in different status levels of their group. It was also discovered that students with high intragroup status and high levels of group norms acquisition can be divided into the following two subgroups: the first subgroup includes students in search of possibilities for self-actualization, and their behaviour is often interpreted as impulsive by teachers; the second one consists of students capable of fulfilling their needs within the behavioural norms set by adults. As for students with average status levels, their perception of normative situation characteristics tends to shift from impulsive to normative. Finally, students with low status levels can also be divided into two categories: some of them are poorly assessed by peers due to the lack of their involvement in joint activities, which, in turn, is because their real reference group is situated outside the class community; others have some kind of physical or mental disability which is usually not accepted by the group and often makes norms impossible either to adopt or to follow.

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