A longitudinal study addressed the question of stability of individual expressive behaviors and replicated the basic findings of a cross-sectional study. Subjects were 25 infants for whom videotape records were available of four diptheria-pertussis-tetanus (DPT) inocculations scheduled at roughly 2, 4, 6, and 18 months. (Author/RH)

Children in kindergarten, first, second, and third grades heard scenarios in which a child experienced an emotionally equivocal or unequivocal event. Subjects were asked questions which assessed their ability to discriminate between equivocal and unequivocal situations. Two follow-up studies were conducted. Implications for children's social…

Second graders, fifth graders, and college students heard 12 stories that varied systematically by situational domain, outcome, and causal attribution. Students were asked to infer the story character's emotion at the end of the story and give reasons for it. Contributions and limitations of Weiner's attribution-emotion model are assessed in light…

Two longitudinal studies focused on naturally occurring conversations at home among (1) 18- and 24-month-old second-born children, mothers, and older siblings, and (2) first-born children 25 and 32 months old, mothers, and younger siblings. By two years of age most children referred to a range of feeling states in self and other, and discussed the…

To investigate affective and dispositional factors in the motivation of children's helping, 60 children ranging from preschool to sixth grade were observed in laboratory distress incidents. Results indicated that helping tended to be positively correlated with positive affect and negatively correlated with negative and neutral affect. (Author/RH)

Investigated in three studies were responses of 18- and 24-month-old children to a series of commands. Results suggest that a potent incentive for obeying commands lies in the pleasure very young children take in fitting their actions to the words of others. This pleasure sustains subsequent reenactment of the actions without commands. (Author/RH)

Data from four studies answer Carey's (1982, 1983) critical questions about the validity of the original Infant Temperament Questionnaire (ITQ). Discussion illuminates the complexity of establishing the construct validity of psychological assessments used with infants. Data suggest that both the original and revised Carey ITQs fail discriminant…

Mothers of about 100 toddlers completed the Toddler Temperament Scale when their children were 12, 18, and 24 months old. Other data sets were available for: (a) factors representing laboratory observations; (b) measures of mothers' temperament by mothers and by social workers; and (c) measures of the home and family environment by social workers.…

Temperament is examined from a longitudinal, within-individual perspective in order to investigate short-term change and patterns of temperament changes. For 100 consectutive days five mothers completed a temperament survey, reporting on their own and their two-year-old children's behavior. Patterns of change were identified for both mothers and…

Investigated the relationship between children's temperaments, in interaction with situational factors, and their helping behavior. Twenty-four preschool children were presented with four opportunities for helping a female adult. Mothers rated children's helpfulness at home. Multiple measures of sociablity were gathered from mothers and preschool…

Examined the influence of maternal differential behavior and child temperament on sibling relationships. Forty pairs of four-to-nine-year-old siblings and their mothers were observed playing in sibling dyads and mother-children triads in their homes. Mothers provided temperament ratings of their children's activity, emotional intensity, and…

Two studies, one with two- to three-month-olds and one with six- to eight-month-olds, examined infant preferences for attractive faces. A visual preference technique was used. Infants were shown slides of faces of adult women previously rated for attractiveness. When shown pairs of attractive and unattractive faces, older and younger infants…

Adults' perceptions of infants' cries were evaluated by means of multidimensional scaling. Twenty-four nonparents and 20 parents judged the similarity of all possible pairs of 12 recorded cries. Subjects also rated the cries on 29 attributes, including perceived aversiveness, possible caretaking responses, affective responses, and semantic…

The selection of acts from the stream of infant behavior is examined. Adults (140 mothers, fathers, and other men and women) viewed videotapes of 9-, 15-, and 21-month-old infants. One half noted meaningful acts; the other half noted intentionally communicative acts. Parents selected more meaningful acts than nonparents and agreed more about…

This study documented a developmental model of children's understanding of the simultaneity of two emotions. Fourteen children at each of the nine age levels from 4 to 12 were studied. Children were questioned about (1) two emotions of same valence directed at the same target, (2) same valence/different target, (3) different valence/different…