Relational Rationality and Children’s Interview Responses

Children’s interview responses are often read monologically, as mirror reflections of their spontaneous thinking. In contrast, analyses of alignments and collaboration imply a dialogical approach. We argue that in a dialogical analysis, children’s interview responses should be read in terms of a relational rationality. Against the backdrop of such a rationality, ‘immature’ responses can be understood in terms of children’s desire to please the interviewer, and by their rational desire to align themselves with their co-participants. In contrast to the scientific rationality of Grice’s conversational maxims, relational rationality is instead discussed in terms of social relations.