AbstractAssertive behaviours like showing‐off have an important role for a child in getting attention from other children in a class without being aggressive. This study presented the showing‐off behaviour in an English nursery school, and later it was discussed in comparison with that in the German kindergartens reported by Hold‐Cavell. As a result, the English children performed showing‐off behaviours at only one‐half the frequency of German children. No sex difference was seen in either showing‐off or physical aggression in the nursery class. The frequency of showing‐off did not correlate with that of physical aggression; this result is discussed in terms of Hinde's motivational postulate. Showing‐off behaviour is deserving of the further studies cross‐culturally and