The psychologist tracking the development of children’s fairness and peer relationships
Jeanine Grütter is discovering what creates an inclusive classroom where all children feel that they belong
Jeanine Grütter is a developmental psychologist at Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich, Germany. Jeanine studies how children develop positive relationships with their peers and begin to take responsibility in society as a whole. She is trying to understand how teachers can nurture community within the classroom. Annie Brookman-Byrne talks with Jeanine about how social responsibility develops, and the possibility of using AI in the classroom to help teachers support positive peer relationships.
Annie Brookman-Byrne: What has your research revealed about how and when children start to take social responsibility for their peers and wider society?
Jeanine Grütter: In early childhood, children learn to distinguish themselves from others, an important prerequisite for developing a theory of mind – the understanding that other people have wishes, feelings, and intentions that may differ from their own. Over time, they become better observers and learn to see others’ perspectives and consider others’ feelings.
Through close relationships within the family and early friendships with peers, they learn about empathy, intimacy, and trust. This helps them learn to solve conflicts in a prosocial way. At school, in a larger peer group, they learn rules about treating one another fairly. Once they have developed a sense of responsibility towards their peers, they can apply it to the larger community. In adolescence, they might volunteer to help other people, and as they become adults, they may gain an even stronger sense of responsibility and a desire to take care of others. The COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated the importance of mutual responsibility.
My colleagues and I ran a study looking at the solidarity shown by a group of 21-year-olds during the pandemic. At the age of 12, these same young people had been interviewed about their empathy, feelings of belonging, and trust. Those who had more empathy at age 12 displayed greater solidarity at age 21, during the pandemic – they helped people in need, followed the rules, and trusted the government. This shows that early social responsibility can have a real impact later on, so helping children develop those traits may be very valuable.
ABB: How do you measure psychological concepts like perspective taking and empathy?
JG: In most cases, I tell stories about daily peer life and show children pictures, then record their reactions. We can test perspective taking and empathy by observing whether children anticipate the feelings of someone who is excluded by peers. When working with adolescents, we present quite complex social situations, recognising that peer relationships have a powerful impact at that age. Teenagers want to belong, to be in the cool group. Sometimes they may exclude peers, even if they know that doing so is unfair and hurtful. To behave fairly, they need to understand the implications of their behaviours and resist peer pressure. We use the pictures and stories to understand what conditions help children and adolescents make fair decisions.
ABB: What challenges do you face in researching social responsibility?
JG: Children know a lot about fairness and equality. They have very high standards and want to be fair. They have a lot of other concerns as well, however, so they don’t always act fairly. In a typical classroom, one or two kids are excluded, so there can be a mismatch between the high levels of concern children report having for their peers and the way they actually behave. We need to observe children in the classroom to really understand their behaviours – we can’t just rely on their responses to picture-based stories. This leads to another challenge, which is analysing the massive amount of data generated from conducting observations. We’re starting to work with AI to address this issue.
“Children know a lot about fairness and equality. They have very high standards and want to be fair.”
ABB: What role does AI play?
JG: Biologists, for example, have developed AI methods for monitoring animals. This allows them to videotape animals in the wild using AI instead of spending hours in the wild themselves. We have learnt a great deal from these scientists and have collaborated with them to adapt their methods to observing children in the classroom.
We can track where children look, observe how they behave, analyse their body movements, and determine whether the behaviours of one person synchronise with those of another. Children who show synchronised behaviours usually work well together. When a child’s behaviours are not synchronised with those of other children, it can be a sign that this child is not part of the peer group. Looking at some initial analysis of just 10 minutes of children’s discussions, we found that one child didn’t synchronise his behaviours with those of any other children – he wasn’t working with others and didn’t feel that he really belonged in the class.
I hope such information will help teachers gain a better understanding of what’s going on in their classrooms. Teachers are responsible not only for children’s learning, but also for making sure that all children feel that they are part of the class. It’s difficult for teachers to observe these dynamics in the classroom, and technology like AI may help teachers in the future. I can imagine it being used to help teachers plan group activities and make sure everyone is included and feels a sense of belonging.
ABB: How can teachers help children develop fairness?
JG: Teachers make a big difference in influencing how fair and inclusive a class is. They serve as a role model for how to treat others and can help to set inclusive norms, for example by discussing with the class how to ensure that everyone has a sense of belonging, and by being responsive to student conflicts. In addition, discussions about fairness in everyday life help to promote perspective taking and empathy. For example, teachers might ask their students, “Is it fair to exclude someone because they don’t fit in with the group or are less good at something? How does an excluded child feel?” Teachers can show that everyday situations are complex, and address concerns about peer or academic pressure. They can support students in reflecting on possible courses of action, encouraging them to ask, for example, “What can I do if other children are mean to someone?”
“Discussions about fairness in everyday life help to promote perspective taking and empathy.”
It is important that teachers understand the social dynamics in their classrooms and are aware of (potential) friendships, peer cliques, or hierarchies as they make seating plans or determine the composition of groups for class activities. Certain group activities can help to show children and adolescents how the dynamics of one group may differ from those of another, and provide opportunities to learn ways of demonstrating social responsibility for their peers.
Footnotes
Jeanine Grütter was awarded her PhD in Psychology in 2016. A developmental and educational psychologist, Jeanine is the principal investigator for a number of interdisciplinary longitudinal studies in various cultural contexts. These studies focus on children’s and adolescents’ social and moral development, their peer relationships, and the emergence of a sense of social belonging and identity within the group. Jeanine is a Jacobs Foundation Research Fellow 2023-2025.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
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