Wisdom and dominance in preschool peer culture: A mixed-methods exploration

Abstract

This study explores how young children understand and construct the concept of wisdom within their peer groups, focusing on the social processes that shape these perceptions. While adults often define wisdom using abstract cognitive or moral criteria, this research investigates how children attribute wisdom based on everyday social interactions. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in a kindergarten in a small Slovak village, the study combines participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and children's drawings to reveal how wisdom is negotiated among peers. In addition, systematic observations of social agonism were used to map dominance hierarchies within the group. The research examined whether dominant peers were perceived as wiser, and how factors such as age, gender, and specific social behaviors influenced children's judgments. Findings show that dominance and wisdom were not conflated by young children. Instead, children perceived as wise tended to be those who were prosocial, helpful, respectful of social norms, and protective of others. Age influenced nominations, with older peers often described as “bigger” or more knowledgeable, while gender did not significantly affect perceptions of wisdom. Children with communication or developmental differences were rarely described as wise and were sometimes explicitly labeled as “unwise.” The study highlights that children's concepts of wisdom are deeply embedded in immediate relational contexts rather than hierarchical power structures. It also reveals a significant gap between adult expectations and children's lived social experiences. By focusing on children's own perspectives, the study offers valuable insights into how abstract social concepts such as wisdom emerge during early peer interactions, with implications for inclusive early childhood education.