Children's reasoning about three authority attributes: Adult status, knowledge, and social position.

The study examined the development of authority concepts with regard to three attributes of authority figures: adult status, knowledge, and social position. Subjects (40 male, 40 female) in Grades 1-7, from schools with programs that place children in positions of authority, were interviewed to assess their evaluations of commands from single individuals possessing different authority attributes and their choices between different individuals who gave opposing commands.