Does popularity determine who leads in a dyadic cooperative task? Subtle differences between children with and without developmental disabilities

Background: Popular indivuals are usually academically high achiveving and also often leaders. Children with developmental disabilities are usually not popular among their peers. In dyadic cooperative tasks, the popular member is often the leader, as shown by self-reports and observational research. It is unknown whether this macro-level behaviour is reflected in micro-level synchronisation patterns of the movements of dyads who are engaged in a cooperative task.

Aims: The goal of the present study was to investigate whether popularity differentially affected the leading-following behaviour of dyads consisting of children with and without developmental disabilities.

Methods and procedures: Children with (n = 106) and without (n = 183) developmental disabilities performed a tangram puzzle task individually and cooperatively. While performing the task, they stood on a Nintendo Wii Balance Board that registered their postural sway.

Outcomes and results: Although we found some similarities between dyads with and without a developmental disability based on both popularity and task performance, the most striking difference occurred in low performing dyads. In those, dyads with a developmental disability had no clear leader or follower.

Conclusion: Especially in dyads with developmental disabilities it is important that there are clear roles, since the worst performance was observed when roles were absent.