Examined whether children's schemata for occupations they observe in real life differ from schemata for occupations portrayed on television. Found that children do form separate schemata for television and real life. Compared to subjects' schemata of real life occupations, those for television versions entailed more glamour, higher income, more…

Reviews a series of studies documenting that key aspects of helpless reactions to failure are present in preschool and early elementary school children. Proposes a preliminary model in which a general conception of self and the notion of this self as an object of contingent worth are sufficient conditions for helplessness. (HTH)

Examined role of social anxiety, social withdrawal, and locus of control in the developmental level of interpersonal negotiation strategies (INS) when resolving hypothetical conflicts. Found that sociable children were more likely than socially withdrawn children to exhibit greater competence in INS. Children with internal locus of control were…

Study assessed compliance and internalization for 99 preschoolers previously studied as toddlers. Compliance and internalization were assessed in multiple observational contexts using maternal reports. Found that committed and situational compliance had distinct developmental trajectories, and only committed compliance was associated with…

Observed 4-year-olds during interaction tasks, and 2-weeks later recorded brain wave functions while subject attended to a visual stimulus. Found that children who displayed social competence exhibited greater relative left frontal activation than children displaying social withdrawal during the play session, who exhibited greater relative right…

Studied effects on nutritional supplementation, with or without psychosocial stimulation, on the development and growth of 129 stunted children compared with 32 nonstunted children. Found that after six months, initially low activity levels of stunted children matched those of nonstunted children, regardless of treatment. Supplementation improved…

Evaluated the enduring effectiveness of a skill-based training program to enhance maternal sensitivity toward infants between six and nine months of age. Found that more of the toddlers whose mothers participated in the intervention were securely attached than toddlers from the control group dyads. In the third year, evidence of sustained effects…

Examined emotion regulation strategy use in 75 infants between 6 and 18 months during interactions with strangers. Compared to 12- and 18-month olds, the 6-month olds were more likely to use gaze aversion and fussing as their primary regulation strategy and were less likely to use self-soothing and self-distraction. (HTH)

Investigated emotional responses to the still-face paradigm in preterm and full-term black infants. Preterm infants spent less time than full-term infants displaying big smiles in one episode, and showed a less pronounced decrease in big smiles in a second episode. Results confirm the robustness of the still-face paradigm. (HTH)

Compared the spontaneous leg movements of 10 infants with Down Syndrome to those of nondisabled infants matched for chronological age and motor age. Contrary to expectations, no significant difference was found in the frequency of leg movements between the two groups. However, Down Syndrome subjects demonstrated significantly fewer of the most…

Examined whether children differentiate or confuse the domains of folk biology and folk psychology. Children and adult subjects were asked whether the animals depicted in pictures possessed certain biological and psychological properties. Results indicated that by kindergarten, notions of folk psychology and folk biology are sufficiently…

Toddlers were asked to find a hidden toy based on one hidden in a scale model of the room, after varying periods of delay. Subjects experiencing a longer delay on the first trial performed more poorly than those experiencing the long delay later in the trials. Results indicate the difficulty for children of keeping a symbol-referent relation in…

Two studies examined the proposed Nominal Passover Effect, whereby toddlers pass over a novel--though repeated--label for a familiar object. Found that the passover experience was often sufficient to counteract children's tendency to generalize a novel label on the basis of perceptual similarity. (HTH)

A 16-item self-report measure of loneliness and social dissatisfaction was developed to survey 506 third- through sixth-grade children. The measure was found to be internally reliable; more than 10 percent of subjects reported feelings of loneliness and social dissatisfaction; and children's feelings of loneliness were significantly related to…

Describes two versions of a new pictorial scale of perceived competence and social acceptance, a downward extension of the Perceived Competence Scale for Children. Both versions, one for preschoolers/kindergarteners and one for first/second graders, tap four domains: cognitive competence, physical competence, peer acceptance, and maternal…