Subjects categorized as either players who displayed make-believe in natural free-play situations or nonplayers whose behavioral repertoires did not include make-believe, were exposed to either a free-play, an imitation or a problem-solving condition and given an alternate-uses test. Free-play enhanced associative fluency among players who engaged…

Indicates that, in a table game with five-year-old sons or daughters, fathers used more directly controlling language with their children than did mothers, whereas mothers preferred indirectly to directly controlling language. (Author/RH)

Normal, first-born children of two-parent, self-supporting families (N=60) were divided into three groups at birth: control, mothers receiving a specific language stimulation program, and both parents receiving the program simultaneously. Infants whose parents received simultaneous training exhibited the greatest gain over 4 1/2 months in Bayley…

Investigates vocabulary acquisition in the context of joint picture-book reading in mother-infant dyads. Infants aged 17 to 22 months and their mothers, 20 middle-class and 20 lower-class dyads, were observed. In both groups interaction foucused on the eliciting or the provision of information. Results indicate several social class differences in…

Suggests that aspects of children's early representational drawing ability may provide evidence for feature marking in nonlinguistic symbol systems. Reports results of a study of the drawings of kindergarten, second-, and fourth-grade children. (RH)

Results indicate that the performance factors examined do, in part, account for subjects' difficulties on standard Piagetian horizontality and verticality tasks but that they cannot fully account for the overall sex differences. (RH)

Examines the extent to which qualities three and five year-old children attribute to an infant depend on whether the infant is identified as a girl or a boy. Major findings indicate that both three- and five-year-old children responded in a significantly stereotypic manner based on the gender labels provided, regardless of the infant's actual…

Sex pencil-and-paper spatial tests were administered to 232 boys and 237 girls with an average age of 10 years. Results suggest that sex differences in spatial ability may emerge before adolescence, but they are not necessarily generalized at that time. (Author/RH)

Responses of 80 10-month-old infants to brief maternal separation were observed in home and laboratory settings and in two conditions of maternal accessibility: mothers' exit door closed or open. Results show the importance of situational determinants in the investigation of infant attachment behavior. (Author/RH)

When older siblings were present with infants and their mothers in the backyard of a private home, the infants went further from their mothers, traversed a larger area of the yard, left their mothers more quickly, and stayed away longer. (RH)

A total of 111 boys of fourth-, sixth-, and eighth-grade ages were put into situations in which they had an opportunity to donate money for crippled children. Results support the supposition that the motives for helping behavior develop with age. (RH)

Sixteen children from each of kindergarten, second, and fourth grades were presented pictorially and verbally with a series of stories depicting actors who varied in the amount of helping they promised to do and in whether or not they helped. Findings indicated developmental change in the bases of trust. (RH)

Investigates the effect of being labeled "patient" among kindergarten, first- and second-grade girls in a self-imposed delay of gratification task making rewards contingent upon stopping further accumulation. Results are interpreted in terms of modifications in the child's self perceptions as a consequence of being labeled by an adult. (RH)

Clarifies intentions and basis of remarks made in Macfarlane (1963) concerning the relationship of early character structure to later character structure and life outcomes. (Author/RH)

The sex-differentiated socialization emphases of parents and other representatives of societal institutions are considered as they influence personality development and behavioral orientations. Such emphases, shaping behaviors, and teaching styles are evaluated with regard to the nature of "meta-messages" conveyed to children. (Author/RH)