Exploring social goal orientations, self‐perceptions and popularity with students attending regular and special education schools

Abstract Embedded within social dynamics and social‐information processing, the current qualitative study explores the social goal orientations, self‐perceptions and perceptions of popularity of students attending regular and special education schools in Germany. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with seven students in Grade 8, of which three were attending a special educational school specialised in supporting social‐emotional development. Students' endorsement of leadership, intimacy, nurturance and popularity goals were determined, with a focus on the strategies they employ for attainment within everyday social encounters. A range of strategies emerged, including communication strategies, humour and prosocial spending, which expands on past literature that only focused generalised behavioural tendencies and responses to conflict situations. Furthermore, students named both agentic and communal traits when describing how their peers view them. Lastly, students' perspective of popularity characteristics was explored, which thus far has only received minimal inquiry in Germany. This resulted in a collection of conditions, traits and behaviours required for popularity, with both similarities and differences in comparison to other European countries. The inclusion of both students attending regular and special education schools, offered new perspectives and contributed towards addressing knowledge gaps, generating insights and conceptual understandings, as well as offering directions for future research endeavours.