Which behavior would you expect to decrease during the preschool years?

Which behavior would you expect to decrease during the preschool years?

• A. Rough-and-tumble play
• B. Instrumental aggression
• C. Hostile aggression
• D. Cooperative play

Answer: (B)

During preschool years, children’s social-cognitive skills and self-regulation improve, so they rely less on aggressive means to obtain what they want. Instrumental aggression is using aggression to get an object or outcome; as kids learn to use words, negotiate, share, and ask for things, this form of aggression declines. Rough-and-tumble play remains common in this stage and doesn’t typically drop sharply, so it’s not the behavior most expected to decrease. Cooperative play, in contrast, increases as children practice working with peers, so it wouldn’t be expected to decrease. Hostile aggression may lessen as inhibitory control grows, but the clearest and most consistent decline observed in the preschool years is instrumental aggression.

During preschool years, children’s social-cognitive skills and self-regulation improve, so they rely less on aggressive means to obtain what they want. Instrumental aggression is using aggression to get an object or outcome; as kids learn to use words, negotiate, share, and ask for things, this form of aggression declines. Rough-and-tumble play remains common in this stage and doesn’t typically drop sharply, so it’s not the behavior most expected to decrease. Cooperative play, in contrast, increases as children practice working with peers, so it wouldn’t be expected to decrease. Hostile aggression may lessen as inhibitory control grows, but the clearest and most consistent decline observed in the preschool years is instrumental aggression.