bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Theories of the Development of Altruism: Review, Comparison and Integration
Authors: Sharabany Ruth , Bar-Tal Daniel
Published: March 2013

The paper reviews four approaches regarding the development of altruism and proposes an integrative framework. In the first, the evolutionary approach, the focus is on the biological and social conditions which enhance altruistic behavior. In the second reviewed approach, the psychoanalytic, altruistic behavior is seen as an outcome of emotional growth of the individual and as being influenced by the interaction of intra-psychic forces. The third approach, social learning, emphasizes the external conditions which lead to learning of altruistic behavior. This approach considers the use of reinforcement and modeling as principal mechanisms for perpetuating altruistic behavior. Finally, the cognitive developmental approach postulates that altruistic development is a function of the level of cognition; social perspective, and moral development attained by the individual.

The four approaches are compared in terms of three general issues: the origin of altruism, the conception of altruism as a state or as a trait, and individual differences in altruism. Analysis of the approaches suggests that each of them refers to a different unit of analysis and that, therefore, the four approaches can be viewed as complementing each other.
Taxonomic and Complementary Picture Pairs: Ability in Two to Five-Year-Olds
Authors: Scott Marcia S. , Serchuk Rose , Mundy Peter
Published: March 2013

Two through five-year-old children were presented a picture recognition task in two testing sessions (experiment 1). The correct choice formed a complementary relationship with the previously seen study picture on one day, and belonged to the same taxonomic class as the study picture on the other day. Ability to utilize both organizational principles was well above chance levels for two-year-olds and increased with CA, with a complementary superiority evident for all age groups on several measures. Verbal justification of choices reflecfed conceptual mediation at all ages. In experiment 2, alternate explanations of the two-year-olds' choice behavior were shown to be inadequate.
Early Cognitive and Environmental Correlates of Language Development at 4 Years
Authors: Siegel Linda S.
Published: March 2013

Cognitive and environmental factors related to language development were studied in 46 preterm (birthweight less than 1501 grams) and 50 fullterm infants. The children were administered the Bayley Scales at 4, 8, 12, 18, and 24 months, the Uzgiris-Hunt Scales at 4, 8, 12, and 18 months, the Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME), a scale that measures the characteristics of the environment, at 12 months and 3 years, and the Reynell Developmental Language Scales at 2, 3, and 4 years. The Bayley Scales, even as early as 4 months, were significantly correlated with Reynell Comprehension and Expression scores at 4 years. In general, the perceptual motor items of the Bayley tended to be most predictive early in development. Later in development items related to conceptual abilities became predictive and, finally, items related to early language abilities predicted subsequent language scores. The Means-End Relationships, Object Permanence, and Space and Scheme scales of the Uzgiris-Hunt were related to language comprehension and expression at 4 years. In addition, Gestural Imitation was related to language expression. Some of the HOME scales at 12 months were significantly correlated with subsequent language comprehension scores, while most of the HOME scores at 3 years were significantly correlated with all language measures. Although both environmental and cognitive factors are significant predictors of language development, the cognitive factors appear to be more significant in the early months and the environmental factors become more significant later in development.
Habituation Rate and Free Exploration Tempo in 4-Month-Old Infants
Authors: Pecheux Marie-Germaine , Lécuyer Roger
Published: March 2013

If rate of habituation reflects information processing speed and is a stable individual characteristic, fast habituators should habituate relatively quickly to any stimulus, and slow habituators relatively slowly. Moreover, rate of habituation should be related to the baby's tendency to explore in any common situation. To examine these inferences, 24 four-month-old infants were habituated to four stimuli (two geometric patterns and two faces) successively, in two sessions, and observed in a free-exploration situation. The number of trials required to reach criterion in the habituation situations were not correlated, but total looking times to criterion were. Also, slow habituators stayed in the exploration situation for a relatively longer time and also explored a new toy for a longer time. Methodological aspects of habituation are discussed, and an interpretation of habituation sequences in terms of cognitive style is suggested.
A Psychometric Examination of Rasmussen's Ego Identity Scale
Authors: Enright Robert D. , Lapsley Daniel K. , Cullen Joanne , Lallensack Margaret
Published: March 2013

Rasmussen's Ego Identity Scale (EIS) was examined for internal consistency reliability and construct validity. In Study 1, 114 seventh and eleventh grade students were given the EIS, the Marlowe-Crowne social desirability scale, Simmons' Identity Achievement Scale, and Rest's Defining Issues Test of moral development. Although the EIS was significantly related to age, identity, and moral development, its strongest relationship was with social desirability. In Study 2, an item analysis of the Study 1 data and a reworking of the EIS to a 30-item scale reduced the association with social desirability while still maintaining high internal consistency. Study 3 was a replication of the internal consistency findings of Study 2 and an exploration of sex effects which became evident in Study 2. Implications for identity assessment are drawn.
Oral Touch in Young Infants: Response to Variations of Nipple Characteristics in the First Months of Life
Authors: Rochat Philippe
Published: March 2013

Newborns, and one, and four month olders, were presented for 90 sec with nipples varying in shape and in shape plus material. Pressure variations applied by the infant to the nipples were recorded. Overall activity as well as sucking and exploratory patterns of response were studied by observation of the polygraph records. Results suggest that a developmental trend exists, showing an increase in oral exploration and a decrease in sucking. Further, this age trend is influenced by the type of nipple. For the younger infants the addition of the novel material appears to be the basis of a differential response. For the older infants, global shape appears to be a relevant stimulus characteristic. These findings support the contention that there is a double function of the mouth: nutritive as well as perceptual. The tactual capacity revealed here is present within the first months of life and evolves relative to certain stimulus characteristics.
Temperament, Environment, and Six-Month Cognitive-Intellectual Development: A Test of the Organismic Specificity Hypothesis
Authors: Wachs Theodore D. , Gandour Mary Jane
Published: March 2013

The major question asked in the present study was whether temperamental differences mediated the infants' response to the early environment (organismic specificity). A corollary question involved the nature of the relationship between temperament and cognitive-intellectual development. Subjects were 100 six-month-old infants who were observed in their homes three times over a three-week period. Home observations were coded into social and physical environmental parameters. During this time period infant temperament and level of sensorimotor development were independently assessed. Canonical and univariate analyses revealed the following relationships: (1) Infants classified as temperamentally "easy" were more sensitive to environmental parameters than temperamentally "difficult" babies; when environmental influences were relevant for "difficult" infants, they tended to have a negative impact upon development. (2) Temperamental characteristics associated with difficultness were also associated with an inability to coordinate specific sensorimotor schemes. Implications of the above for our understanding of early environmental action were discussed.
Individual and Social Problem Solving Strategies: Inter Versus Intraindividual Coordinations
Authors: Taal Margot
Published: March 2013

Two training methods (individual versus dyadic) were devised to improve children's performance on a mobile construction task. Forty eight subjects of similar cognitive levels were assigned to one of four training conditions involving opportunities for either individual or group practice, on materials which were either identical to or different from those used during the pretest. Subjects were given a pretest and immediate and delayed posttests consisting of the same mobile construction task used during the training. Posttest evaluations revealed improvement for both groups exposed to individual or group mobile training. However, only the performances of the children who organized the mobile hierarchically at the pretest improved significantly. Results are discussed in terms of opportunities for interpersonal coordination and prerequisites for profitful group interaction.
Age Similarity and Helping Intentions
Authors: Yinon Yoel , Sharon Irit , Malkiman Bat-Ami
Published: March 2013

Children, adolescents, adults, and pensioners were requested to collect books for either their own age group or any of the other age groups mentioned, in a 4X4 factorial design. Data analysis revealed main effects for both the age of the potential helper and recipient, as well as an interaction between these two independent variables. However, none of the age groups exhibited a tendency to help their own age group more than the other age groups. The findings' pattern is discussed in detail.
Development of Autonomic Nervous System Responsitivity in Children: A Review of the Literature
Authors: Shields Stephanie A.
Published: March 2013

This paper reviews the literature on Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) responsiveness in children. Normative developmental changes in cardiovascular activity (heart rate and blood pressure), electrodermal activity, and the dynamic balance between branches of the ANS are summarized. Several issues which appear to have potential for further developmental study are identified. Problems and limitations in the psychophysiological study of children are also discussed.
Reasons for the Decalage between Identity Conservation and Equivalence Conservation
Authors: Gold Ron
Published: March 2013

Piaget's equivalence conservation tasks differ from identity conservation tasks in two ways: the former require a transitive inference for solution, and they present the child with a greater " perceptual seduction" to overcome. Two experiments investigated which factor is responsible for the identity-equivalence d&calage by comparing performance on these tasks with that on a third task, equivalence I; this task retains the transitivity requirement of Piaget's task, but one component of the extra "perceptual seduction" is absent. The results suggested that this component of "perceptual seduction" accounts for at least the greater portion of the identity-equivalence d&calage; as such the d&calage is in good accord with Piaget's theory. Implications of the results for performance in "informal conservation situations" are discussed. Various misconceptions in the literature are seen as deriving from a lack of awareness of some central ideas in Piaget's theory.
Becoming Bilingual During Early Childhood
Authors: Garcia Eugene E.
Published: March 2013

Spanish/English bilingual and monolingual English children, ages 36-50 months, were recorded during interactions with their mothers. An analysis of the recorded language was performed utilizing selected morphological and syntactic features. An analysis of home language use was also performed for bilingual children. Results indicate: (1) a definite bilingual proficiency character with "weighted" proficiency in English; (2) no significant difference on English measures between bilingual and monolingual children; (3) a differential language use pattern for Spanish and English by bilingual children in the home. These results provide new insights into the bilingual acquisition phenomenon in early childhood.
Chinese Children's Comprehension and Production of Passive Voice and Double Negative Sentences
Authors: Man-Shu Zhu , Jing-Zhe Wu
Published: March 2013

Two experiments are reported that examine the abilities of normal children aged five to seven years and deaf-mute children aged 11-18 years in tasks demanding comprehension, production and imitation of passive voice and double negative sentences. These show that comprehension precedes production and that while imitation can improve production it only does so for subjects showing some initial levels of comprehension. On the basis of these data, it is argued that the acquisition of syntactic structures is determined by levels of cognitive ability. A comparison of deaf and hearing subjects reveals that whilst the former are delayed in the acquisition of these syntactic structures, some do eventually succeed in mastering them. The implications of these findings for the role of language in the development of cognitive abilities are also explored.
Imaginary Audience Behavior as a Function of Age, Sex and Formal Operational Thinking
Authors: Goossens Luc
Published: March 2013

The Situation Scale for Adolescents (SISA), a Dutch extended version of the Imaginary Audience Scale, was administered to several hundreds of youngsters at the 7th, 9th and 12th grade levels. The scale, assessing self-consciousness in two types of social situations, proved to be reliable, but yielded confused results regarding age and sex differences. In addition, concern about the imaginary audience was not associated with formal operational thought. These results are in line with previous studies on these topics. When taken together, they clearly indicate that Elkind's theory on the imaginary audience is in need of revision. Findings on the cognitive origin of the imaginary audience are discussed in the light of recent research on formal operations, and suggestions are made for future research.
Individual Differences in IQ, Daydreaming and Moral Reasoning in Gifted and Average Adolescents
Authors: Henderson Bruce B. , Gold Steven R. , Clarke Kay
Published: March 2013

Previous research found factorial independence between IQ and daydreaming in both gifted and average children and adolescents, supporting Hogan's (1980) three-dimensional model of intelligence. The present study was designed to replicate and extend these findings to older adolescents. The second aim of this research was to relate the decline in guilt and fear of failure daydreams that has been found in studies of children, adolescents, and college students to the development of moral reasoning ability. A total of 98 gifted students and 104 average students in grades 9 through 12 completed a revised form of the Imaginal Processes Inventory and the Defining Issues Test. Measures of daydreaming style were again found to be independent of intelligence. The gifted group was also found to have fewer guilt and fear of failure daydreams and more positive-constructive daydreams than the average group. No relationship was found between moral judgment and guilt and fear of failure daydreaming.
Intellectual and Emotional Development and School Adjustment in Preterm Children at 6 and 7 Years of Age. Continuation of a Follow-Up Study
Authors: Grigoroiu-Serbanescu Maria
Published: March 2013

The study is the continuation of a previous five-year follow-up investigation. During the sixth and seventh research year the study was performed on the remaining 282 preterm children and 74 full-term (F.T.) children. The preterm children were assigned to three groups (P1, P2, P3) according to their degree of prematurity. The main conclusions reached in the study were: (1) at ages 6 and 7 the mean IQs and emotional maturity indices were significantly lower in P2 boys and P3 children (boys and girls) than in F.T. children, though ranging in normalcy; (2) in the first form P1 children and P2 girls adjusted to school as well as F.T. children did, while P2 boys and P3 children reached a significantly lower school adjustment (SA) level. SA troubles were frequently increased in preterm children, but significance was found only for writing troubles, social and emotional behavior troubles. Both in preterm and F.T. boys the SA troubles were more frequent than in girls; (3) the multiple regression showed that prematurity was predictive for SA level at the ages of 6 and 7 only when regression was performed on preterm groups, but it failed to be predictive when mixed groups of preterm and F.T. children were analysed. Perinatal and postnatal health state of children and cultural level of their families were also significantly related to SA.
Direct Labeling, Tester Expectancy and Delay Maintenance Behavior in Scottish Preschool Children
Authors: Ritchie Fiona K. , Toner Ignatius J.
Published: March 2013

The influence on Scottish preschool children's self-control of labels regarding patience given directly to the children themselves, and of the expectations regarding the children's patience provided to adult testers, was investigated. The children's self-control was assessed in a task in which each child's possession of accumulating candy rewards was made contingent upon the child's stopping of further accumulation. Preschool children directly labeled beforehand as "patient" demonstrated significantly longer delay maintenance than did preschoolers hearing a remark irrelevant to the task. A significant effect of tester expectancy was found, with children not directly labeled as "patient" beforehand being more sensitive to adult expectations than were labeled children.
Pleasure Derived from Mastery in Three-Year Olds: Its Function for Persistence and the Influence of Maternal Behavior
Authors: Lutkenhaus Paul
Published: March 2013

The study, conducted in two independent replications, run approximately one year apart, explored the possibility that (a) the actions of three year old children are guided and accompanied by self-evaluations and withdrawal, (b) that self-evaluations and withdrawal have a motivational function for persistence, indicating the beginnings of a self-reward system, and (c) are influenced by the mother's behavior when interacting with her child. Natural observations of mother and child, playing a matching-to-pattern game, revealed that most of the children showed self-evaluations and withdrawal. Both predicted persistence in the task, even when their successes and failures were partialed out. They were mediated by the mother's assistance and interference of her child's striving for mastery, mainly by her physical interruptions of the child's activity.
Word Superiority and Word Shape Effects in Beginning Readers
Authors: Feitelson Dina , Razel Micha
Published: March 2013

It has been found that words are sometimes perceived with greater ease than letters and that word shape, which is based on the location of ascending and descending lower case letters, sometimes plays a role in the perception of words. Though the evidence for both these notions is restricted to adults, Haber and Haber (1981a) have recently argued for the importance of word shape for beginning readers without actually using children as subjects. In the present study, forty Israeli kindergarteners learned to "read" either words or single letters in either upper or lower-case Roman characters. Subjects were taught to "read" all stimuli as names of objects. It was found that single letters were learned better than whole words indicating that for beginning readers the letter is more of a perceptual unit than the word. Words in lower-case letters were not learned better than ones in all capitals, further supporting the view that beginners do not rely on word shape in their reading.
Sequential Variations in the Interactions of Caregivers and Hospitalized Seriously Ill Children and Adolescents
Authors: Susman Elizabeth J. , Hollenbeck Albert R.
Published: March 2013

The patterns of social interaction between nineteen, seriously ill, hospitalized child and adolescent cancer patients and their caregivers are examined. Conditional probability analyses were used to determine sequences of patient behavior following vocalizations by caregivers at three different phases of a medical treatment regimen. For the intraindividual (single subject) analyses, there were significant sequences of patient behavior following caregiver vocalizations during all three phases of treatment. For the interdividual (group) analyses, there were no differences between phases of treatment in the sequences of patient behavior following caregiver vocalizations. These findings highlight the variability and change in patients' responses to environmental stimuli at different points in treatment.
A Method of Defining 'Packages' of Maternal Stimulation and their Functional Significance for the Infant with Mother and Stranger
Authors: Beebe Beatrice , Gerstman Louis
Published: March 2013

A method of defining co-occurring constellations or "packages" of maternal facial-visual engagement and head or hand stimulation during face-to-face play with an infant is presented, using microanalysis of 16 mm film. This method permits partner-specific tailoring of adult kinesic stimulation patterns to facilitate comparisons of dyads where the patterning of the adult partner's behaviors may vary greatly. The functional relevance of these packages for one four-month-infant's concurrent level of facial-visual engagement is documented in two case studies of this infant playing with his mother and a stranger. The infant's level of engagement covaries with the package changes of both adult partners. The change in adult kinesic stimulation pattern, averaging 1.5-3 seconds, provides a more molar unit with which to document a form of "interactional synchrony" and mutual affective exchange. The similarity of findings with mother and stranger suggests that this infant's appreciation of packages is not person-specific at this age, but rather may be a more general social-perceptual capacity.
Mastery Motivation and Cognitive Development: A Longitudinal Study from Infancy to 34 Years of Age
Authors: Jennings Kay. D. , Yarrow Leon J. , Martin Patricia P.
Published: March 2013

Thirty-five children who had participated in an intensive study of mastery motivation at 1 year of age were reevaluated at 32 years. At each age, the children's level of mastery motivation and cognitive functioning were assessed with both global and differentiated measures. Several structured tasks were developed to assess mastery motivation. In addition to the assessments at 1 year and 32 years, Bayley scores from 6 months of age were available for nearly half the children. The findings differed for boys and girls. For boys, some continuity was found in mastery motivation between 1 and 32 years; for girls, no continuity in mastery motivation was found but early mastery motivation predicted later cognitive functioning. Early vocalization (at both 6 and 12 months) was significantly related to later verbal abilities for boys. These findings indicate that developmental continuities can be found in the early years of life but only when a wide range of behaviors in the cognitive-motivational domain is examined.
Occupational Involvement and Alienation among Adults: The Effects of Gender and Age
Authors: Steitz Jean A. , Kulpa Carol M.
Published: March 2013

This paper presents a path analytic study of differences due to one's gender in the perception of and meaning attributed to occupational involvement and alienation among adult professionals. Within the study, gender differences are not considered in isolation from interdependent age differences. The sample consists of 233 adults employed at the same job level within a large professional organization. The path model looks at the interplay between background variables, contextual/organizational variables, personal/psychological variables, and work outcomes (powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, isolation from organizational goals, and job satisfaction). The results indicate that the psychological structure of work alienation is qualitatively different for women than for men. Quantitatively, the men and women experience approximately the same amount of alienation. In general, age is a negative factor for the women, but a positive factor for the men especially in relationship with the contextual/organizational variables. The distinct meaning of work alienation for women as opposed to men and the role of age and adult identity are discussed in terms of further understanding the adult occupational experience.
Development of Attachment and Exploratory Behavior in Infant Squirrel Monkeys under Controlled Rearing Conditions
Authors: Hopf S. , Herzog M. , Ploog D.
Published: March 2013

This study contributes to the understanding of early development of communication in squirrel monkeys (Saimiri). Emission of expressive behavior as well as its perception (as concluded from the partner's responses) form the basis of social communication. We studied stimulus conditions that control attachment and exploratory behavior two interdependent fields of motivation which are especially important in the early stages of development.

Newborn squirrel monkeys were isolated from their mothers and the group and were provided with a mother surrogate, manipulanda, and social surrogate stimuli: objects were so designed as to elicit behavior which would otherwise be directed at conspecifics.

It was found that the animals displayed largely normal attachment and exploratory behavior. They modified their behavior depending on whether their contacts with the social surrogate were answered by aversive or non-aversive calls in the same sense as socially experienced conspecifics would do. Consequently, the conclusion may be drawn that specific genetic components are involved in comprehending emotional expressions.
Deictic and Nondeictic Interpretations of 'in front of' and 'behind' in Fronted Object Tasks
Authors: Cox M. V.
Published: March 2013

Children and adults normally interpret the spatial expressions in front of and behind in a nondeictic way when fronted objects are used. Two experiments involving a treasure hunt game investigated subjects' (6 to 10 years and adults) awareness of an alternative, deictic interpretation. Although older subjects will change from a nondeictic to a deictic response under certain conditions, most subjects do not appear to be aware of the deictic interpretation. It is argued that these spatial expressions do not normally present a problem of ambiguity to most subjects.
Teaching Children about Verbal Referential Communication
Authors: Robinson E. J. , Robinson W. P.
Published: March 2013

The results of both experimental and naturalistic studies show that when young children are told explicitly whether the listener does or does not understand what the speaker means, they advance both in their understanding about message ambiguity and in their communicative performance. We report an investigation of how this explicit information achieves its effects.

In a comparison of five forms of intervention we found that when the explicit information was given immediately after the message, as in normal conversation, it was much more effective than when it was given at the end of an exchange. Under the former condition certain listening or speaking behaviours were imposed by the giving of the information. If this same behaviour was imposed without any explicit information, the effects on post-test performance were almost as great.

We interpret the results as suggesting that explicit information about listeners' understanding or nonunderstanding achieves its effects via changes in children's listening and/or speaking behaviour. We discuss how this might happen.
A Developmental Analysis of Indian Children's Perceptions of Control in the Different Domains of School Functioning
Authors: Bhana Kastoor
Published: March 2013

Indian children's perceptions of control in the cognitive, social and physical domains of school functioning were assessed by means of the 'Multidimensional measure of children's perceptions of control' developed by Connell (1980). In addition, an independent assessment of the children's general perception of control was obtained. Altogether 75 boys and 75 girls from each of standards 2, 3, 4 and 5 comprised the sample. Appropriate data analyses indicated that for each domain of activity there was a significant developmental difference in the children's perception of the three sources of control (internal/external/unknown) and that this varied with their success or failure significantly more often than the external source of control category. These major findings have both practical and theoretical implications.
The Formation of Self-Concepts in the Context of Educational Systems
Authors: Fend Helmut , Schröer Sigrid
Published: March 2013

On the basis of a longitudinal study of adolescents (age 12-16) we are investigating the input of school experiences on central aspects of personality formation. In this context the relationship between the evaluative system of the school and the self-evaluation of the pupils was assessed to test for the existence of an isomorphism. However, the results show only a weak relationship and make clear that the institutionally defined success and failure patterns of pupils in the German educational system are not isomorphically reflected in the generalized self-evaluation of the adolescents. But this does not mean that educational experiences are irrelevant for the formation of self-concepts. The educational system prestructures the latent problems which have to be interpreted and worked on individually and in the social context of peers and parents. Within the context of a psychological model we try to show how these problems are coped with and how this coping process crystallizes in a system of self-concepts.
Categorizing Individuals: An Alternative to Linear Analysis
Authors: Hinde Robert A. , Dennis Amanda
Published: March 2013

A common problem concerns the relations between children's behaviour or characteristics at one age or in one situation, and those shown later or in another context. It is argued here that Pearson or rank order correlations may not be ubiquitously suitable for assessing such relations, primarily because independent variables (IV's) and dependent variables (DV's) may be related for only some of the children (e.g., those high on the IV may tend to be high on the DV, but for children with lower scores on the IV there may be no relation to the scores on the DV). Categorization procedures can help. It is shown that the use of Pearson correlations, multiple regression, continuous discriminant analysis and discrete discriminant analysis on the same data sets show up different types of relations between IV's and DV's. Categorization procedures can also facilitate examination of individual cases.
Selective Memory and Belief: A Methodological Suggestion
Authors: Kagan Jerome , Reznick J. Steven , Davies Julia , Smith Jennifer , Sigal Heidi , Miyake Kazuo
Published: March 2013

An investigation designed to demonstrate the utility of selective recall as a partial index of a preferred attitude is summarized. The experiment, which deals with maternal attitudes on three child rearing themes, revealed class differences in the selective recall of information related to the importance of physical affection and restrictiveness.
Japanese Concepts of Child Development from the Mid-17th to Mid-19th Century
Authors: Kojima Hideo
Published: March 2013

This paper summarizes beliefs and values about child-rearing and education in Japan at a time when direct Western influence was minimal. The chief materials for the analysis are documents written by experts of those times for the general public. Japanese writers argued that children are innately good rather than evil; environmental factors rather than innate ones account for differences among children; and children are autonomous learning beings rather than passive to experience. Goals were related either to maintenance of harmonious human relationships or to faithful performance of one's assigned task. The basic method of training was to observe children's maturation and assign age-appropriate tasks to them. Young infants were conceived as competent beings in the sensory and perceptual domain, but they were also thought to be unstable and fragile. Observational learning and internal regulation of behavior by older children were emphasized. Up to the age of seven, adults did not deal with boys and girls differently; both sexes were treated permissively, even indulgently.
Patterns of Early Socialization: Mother-and Father-Infant Interaction in the Home
Authors: Power Thomas G. , Parke Ross D.
Published: March 2013

To provide a description of early socialization patterns in the home, naturalistic observations of the families of 24 first-born infants (four boys and four girls at each of three ages: 11, 14, and 17 months) were conducted. Four kinds of parental socializing practices were recorded: behavioral socialization, cognitive socialization, parent-infant play, and short-term behavioral regulation. The majority of interactions fell into the cognitive socialization and short-term behavioral regulation categories. Parental socialization practices were geared to the child's developmental level: attempts to regulate infant attention and aggression decreased with age; attempts to engage infants in planful, self-regulated sequences of behavior (household responsibilities and prosocial behavior) increased. Mothers attempted to enforce more household rules than did fathers, and both mothers and fathers were more likely to discourage aggression and encourage prosocial behavior in their girls, and to encourage household responsibilities and turn-taking games in their boys.
Understanding of the Dimensional Terms 'Easy' and 'Hard' in the Self-Evaluation of Competence
Authors: Bird J. Elisabeth , Thompson G. Brian
Published: March 2013

Young children's understanding of the verbal terms 'easy' and 'hard' in describing personal competence at depicted activities was investigated with reference to a developmental sequence suggested by Heckhausen (1982) to describe the child's understanding of concepts concerning personal achievement. The consistency of children's judgments rather than their realism or accuracy was the criterion used for investigating each of two developmental levels of understanding. For the 3-and 4-year-old children in studies 1 and 2, there was consistency between responses to the terms 'can'/'can't' and the terms 'easy'/'hard'. At the higher developmental level, in study 3, both 5-and 7-year-olds were able to make consistent unidimensional orderings of the level of difficulty of activities.
Infant Attachment to Mother and Child Caretaker in an East African Community
Authors: Kermoian Rosanne , Leiderman P. Herbert
Published: March 2013

Child rearing among the Gusii of Kenya is distinctive in that (a) infants are routinely cared for by both mothers and child caretakers, and (b) infant-mother interaction is primarily limited to activities which provide for the infant's physical needs, whereas infant-caretaker interaction is primarily limited to play and social activities. In this study a separation/reunion paradigm and Ainsworth classification procedures were used to assess security of attachment in a sample of Gusii infants 8 to 27 months of age. The proportion of infants classified as securely attached to mother and caretaker was 61% and 54%, respectively. Although the establishment of a secure relationship was not affected by differences between infant-mother and infant-caretaker activities, correlates of attachment security were specific to each. Whereas attachment to mother was related to nutritional status, attachment to the caretaker was related to Bayley MDI performance. These findings suggest that the pervasive association between security of attachment and infant functioning in American studies is a reflection of the diversity of activities in which infants and mothers engage.
A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Children's Behaviour during Their First Year in a Preschool
Authors: Hold-Cavell B. C.L. , Attili G. , Schleidt M.
Published: March 2013

In Germany and Italy 16 children (8 in each country) were observed during their first year in preschool. An average of 50 five-minutes samples in Germany and 38 in Italy were analysed with regard to certain play and behaviour categories.

The comparison revealed differences in 'looking around' and 'body contact' (both more in Italy), 'talking to somebody', 'automanipulation' (both more in Germany), and 'the number of children playing together' (German children preferred to play with more than one child, while Italian children played more often in dyads or alone).

In both cultures children preferred the same age children for social play and the same sex children for parallel play and showed a decline of 'interactions with the teacher' and 'looking around' over the year. Sex differences were found in both cultures for 'object conffict'.
Language, Orthography and Cognitive Processes: Chinese Perspectives for the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis
Authors: Hoosain Rumjahn
Published: March 2013

The traditional approach to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis looks at language and categorically different perception or interpretation of the environment. Another aspect of linguistic relativity relates language to the process of cognition itself, including the ease or facility of cognitive processes. With particular reference to the Chinese language and its unique orthography, some evidence for language-related differences in the manner of information processing is reviewed. These include visual form perception, manipulation of numbers, and memory versus manipulation and elaboration of verbal information. These differences have implications for cognitive development as well as cross-cultural testing and comparison.
Biological Approaches to the Study of Behavioural Development
Authors: Bateson Patrick
Published: March 2013

Although prominence has been given to genes in much biological writing about development, gene expression is such that simple deterministic and additive arguments about genes are usually misconceived. The way in which an individual develops depends on conditions, but the conditions also often depend on the individual. An example is given of how the emerging abilities of a child might result from such an interplay. The development of much individual variation can be explained in terms of relatively simple forms of underlying regulation. Some animal examples are given of how, during development, one of a number of possible outcomes may be selected, as from a jukebox, by environmental conditions. Further cases of regulated interplay between the developing individual and its environment are provided by learning processes, such as imprinting in birds, that appear to occur within sensitive periods in development. Some endogenous control is required, but the self-terminating effects of the learning processes depend on experience. The biological study of behavioural development lays great emphasis on the dynamic character of what happens and in this respect has much in common with other approaches. It is distinctive, though, in that it commonly involves asking what the behavioural processes are for. This functional approach has drawn attention to the special requirements of the young, and the special mechanisms required in the assembly of behaviour. It has also helped understanding of why individuals of the same species, sex and age may differ so much.
Teaching Economics in Primary School: The Concepts of Work and Profit
Authors: Ajello Anna Maria , Bombi Anna Silvia , Pontecorvo Clotilde , Zucchermaglio Cristina
Published: March 2013

Research on children's social cognition has dealt mainly with face to face relations; only a few studies have considered how children understand impersonal aspects of society such as economics. This study involves an investigation of teaching the concepts of work and profit to third-graders. Five instruction units were created and during a one-month period these were presented to five classes at different schools in Rome. A sample of 80 pupils was interviewed before and after teaching aimed at ascertaining their ideas on prices, profit and product distribution. Children's responses were scored on several scales, on which separate ANOVAs (class x sex x repeated measures or class x repeated measures) were carried out. The results show an overall improvement in children's knowledge, with differences that may be related not only to the complexity of the different concept but also to children's initial levels of competence.
The Role of Causality in Young Children's Memory for Stories
Authors: Freeland Claire A. B. , Scholnick Ellin Kofsky
Published: March 2013

This study investigates the conceptual development underlying story recall. Children's memory for stories was examined as a function of subjects' causal understanding and causal structure in stories. Kindergarteners (64 boys and 64 girls) who had scored either high or low on a causal reasoning pretest heard and recalled two stories representing one of four versions which varied in amount and locus of causality. The results supported a developmental view in which recall performance was a complex interaction between characteristics of the learner and characteristics of the story. Depending on the causal structure of the story, boys and girls high in causal reasoning responded differently in employing two alternative cognitive styles. Boys tended to elaborate more on unstructured material and girls tended to assimilate well-structured text more easily. In contrast, boys and girls low in causal reasoning did not respond differently from each other and were not influenced by the causal structure of the story.
Measurement of Temperament in One to Three Year Old Children
Authors: Prior Margot , Sanson Ann , Oberklaid Frank , Northam Elizabeth
Published: March 2013

Temperament in the toddler age group has received relatively little attention in the developmental literature, and there is a clear need for well-established, culturally-appropriate measurement instruments. To this end, the Toddler Temperament Scale (TTS) of Fullard, McDevitt and Carey (1984) was administered to a sample of 397, 1 to 3 year old Australian children. Older and younger toddlers showed developmentally related differences on a number of dimensions, emphasising the need for them to be regarded as separate groups in temperament research. Relationships between temperament classification and maternal and day-caretakers' reports of behaviour problems provided some evidence of concurrent validity of the measures. While some dimensions of the TTS were less than satisfactory psychometrically, the content of the questionnaire seemed suitable for Australian use; Australian normative data is provided for the two age groups.
A Longitudinal Study of Cognitive Representation in Symbolic Play, Self-recognition, and Object Permanence during the Second Year
Authors: Chapman Michael
Published: March 2013

The development of cognitive representation was studied longitudinally in 20 infants between the ages of 12 and 24 months with regard to (1) children's understanding of agency in symbolic play (agent use), (2) recognition of their own mirror image, and (3) object permanence. Results were generally consistent with developmental sequences predicted by Fischer's Skill Theory for agent use and self-recognition. Agent use scale items developed in exactly the predicted sequence, although as might be expected, the predicted microdevelopmental steps among the first three scale items were smaller than the predicted macro-developmental step between those items and the final one. Self-recognition scale items also developed in the predicted sequence, except that children's ability to find a toy from its reflection, and their ability to detect red spots on their noses by looking in a mirror, emerged at the same time instead of in sequence. Also found was a predicted horizontal decalage in cognitive representation across the three content domains: Cognitive representation was found to develop first for object permanence, then for self-recognition and agent use in that order. This result was interpreted in terms of the numbers of different schemes theoretically coordinated in each performance.
Value Systems and Commitment to Goals as a Function of Age, Integration of Personality, and Fear of Death
Authors: Orbach Israel , Iluz Ayala , Rosenheim Eliyahu
Published: March 2013

The present study examined the relationship between age, integration of personality, and fear of death and two aspects of the meaning of life (content of values and degree of commitment). Three groups (young adulthood; middle adulthood; and late adulthood) of men and women from different cultural origins and various levels of education participated in the study. The subjects were requested to rank order eight types of values (understanding, relationship, service, belief, expression, obtaining, growth, and hedonism). They also responded to a questionnaire on the degree of commitment to the goal actualisation. The findings were analysed by means of analysis of variance, multiple regression, and smallest space analysis (S.S.A.). The results show that the late adulthood group differed from the other two groups in the content of meaning by shifting to a more spiritual set of values. Yet, interpersonal relationship was the most important value for all groups. Content of meaning was also related to one's level of education. The degree of commitment to goals was affected by integration of personality, age, and gender. Fear of death and cultural origin had no impact on content or commitment. The S.S.A. revealed two clear dimensions of the eight value categories: altruistic-egotistic and spiritual-materialistic.
Grade and Gender Differences In and the Stability and Correlates Of the Structural Complexity of Children's Playground Games
Authors: Borman Kathryn Matey , Kurdek Lawrence A.
Published: March 2013

Second and fifth graders' playground activities during school recess were studied with a one-year follow-up. At the second time of assessment, measures were also taken of logical reasoning, interpersonal understanding, and understanding game rules. Both grade and gender differences were found in the complexity of children's activities. Generally, older children participated in more complex activities than younger children, and boys participated in more complex activities than girls. The complexity of children's activities increased over the one-year period, especially for boys. The correlates of game complexity differed for boys and girls. For boys, game complexity was negatively related to interpersonal understanding and positively related to understanding game rules. For girls, game complexity was positively related to interpersonal understanding. Results are discussed in terms of social and sex role development.