Examined whether gender differences in affiliative aspects of dyadic conversations occur because girls are more oriented than boys toward goals focused on others. Found that high-affiliation conversations and mutual-participation goals were more prevalent in female than in male and mixed- gender dyads. Mutual-participation goals mediated gender…

Examined the experience of collaboration from sixth graders' perspective as a function of dyad gender and degree of friendship. Found that enjoyment expectations and affiliation perceptions were greater in dyads with greater degrees of friendship and in same-gender dyads compared with mixed-gender dyads. More positive expectation and greater…

Preadolescents, college students, middle-aged adults, and older adults described a problem and a goal for solving that problem. Interpersonal elements of problem descriptions and goals were coded. Interpersonal elements of problems were most salient for females and middle-aged adults. Subjects reported interpersonal goals when other people were…

Examined how the social context of working within same- or different-sex peer dyads related to gender-typed ideas expressed in creative stories. Sixth graders collaborated to write creative stories. Boy dyads' stories included more overtly aggressive ideas and fewer prosocial story ideas than girl dyads' stories. Mixed-gender dyads' stories…