Infants' interactions with mother, sibling, and peer: contrasts and relations between interaction systems

The role of the mother in structuring interactions with the infant during free play was examined at 6 and 9 months. Maternal scaffolding of turn-taking exchanges was then contrasted to the forms of turn-taking apparent in sibling-infant and peer-infant observations. Infants spent more time in turn-taking exchanges with their mothers than with their siblings or peers. These exchanges most often took the form of mothers creating sequences by responding to infants' social and nonsocial acts and by eliciting social and nonsocial responses from the infants. Infants' exchanges with older siblings were briefer and more typically involved the older children eliciting nonsocial responses from the infants but not responding contingently to the infants' interests and actions. Infant peers spent less time in turn-taking exchanges, and their interactions showed less evidence of scaffolding. At the same time, the proportion of strictly social interactions was greatest with peers. Relations were apparent between infants' turn-taking experiences with their mothers and the infants' subsequent interactions with their siblings and with their peers. Relations were also found between infants' interaction experiences with their older siblings and subsequent peer interaction. Those infants with more extensive turn-taking experience with more skilled social partners were subsequently observed to engage in more extensive turn-taking interactions with a peer. These results are discussed in terms of studies on mother-infant attachment and peer competence, maternal scaffolding, and Vygotsky's zone of proximal development.     

Social and nonsocial category discriminations in a chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) and American black bears (Ursus americanus)

One captive adult chimpanzee and 3 adult American black bears were presented with a series of natural category discrimination tasks on a touch-screen computer. This is the first explicit comparison of bear and primate abilities using identical tasks, and the first test of a social concept in a carnivore. The discriminations involved a social relationship category (mother/offspring) and a nonsocial category involving food items. The social category discrimination could be made using knowledge of the overarching mother/offspring concept, whereas the nonsocial category discriminations could be made only by using perceptual rules, such as “choose images that show larger and smaller items of the same type.” The bears failed to show above-chance transfer on either the social or nonsocial discriminations, indicating that they did not use either the perceptual rule or knowledge of the overarching concept of mother/offspring to guide their choices in these tasks. However, at least 1 bear remembered previously reinforced stimuli when these stimuli were recombined, later. The chimpanzee showed transfer on a control task and did not consistently apply a perceptual rule to solve the nonsocial task, so it is possible that he eventually acquired the social concept. Further comparisons between species on identical tasks assessing social knowledge will help illuminate the selective pressures responsible for a range of social cognitive skills.     

Social contingency effects on subsequent perceptual-cognitive tasks in young infants

3 experiments with 3-month-old infants compared the effects of contingent and noncontingent adult-infant social interactions on subsequent infant-controlled habituation and choice tasks. Infants who experienced a prior noncontingent social interaction tended to adopt response strategies that reduced the density of stimulation during these subsequent nonsocial tasks. The results are discussed in terms of their generality and the types of mechanisms that might mediate these transfer effects from social to nonsocial procedures.     

Effects of social comparison on aggression and regression in groups of young children.

The influence of negative, equal, and positive social comparison and of nonsocial comparison upon 4- and 5-year-old black children's subsequent aggressive and regressive behavior in 3-member groups was investigated. The group behavior of boys included more physical agression following negative social comparison than the other treatments, and their group behavior also consisted of more nonverbal teasing behavior following the negative comparison treatment than that of the equal and nonsocial comparison groups. When the behavior of the nontarget partners was controlled, children initiated more physical aggression, nonverbal teasing, and regression after experiencing negative social comparison with the partners than after following the other treatments. There was some evidence to support the reciprocal influence of children's aggressive behavior on each other, particularly for boys following imbalanced social comparison treatments.     

Cognitive Mechanisms in Children''s Gender Stereotyping: Theoretical and Educational Implications of a Cognitive-based Intervention

The study was designed to test the hypothesis derived from cognitive-developmental theory that multiple classification skill plays an important role in children's gender stereotyping and in their processing of counterstereotypic gender information. Children (N = 75; 5-10 years) were matched on pretest measures of gender stereotyping and multiple classification skill and then assigned to: (1) multiple classification training using nonsocial stimuli, (2) multiple classification training using social stimuli, (3) a rule training intervention, or (4) a control intervention. Children who had acquired multiple classification skill via training with social stimuli and those children trained on rules for occupational sorting showed significantly more egalitarian responding on a subsequent measure of gender stereotyping and superior memory for counterstereotypic information embedded in stories. Additionally, children who had acquired multiple classification skill via training with nonsocial stimuli showed superior memory for counterstereotypic information, despite demonstrating no greater flexibility on the gender stereotyping measure. Both theoretical and educational implications of results are discussed.     

语用视角下的称呼语研究

称呼语作为一种社会指示语,体现了交际双方身份、地位及相对应的社会关系。称呼语在实际交际过程中往往具有语力,能实现诸如问候、警告、威胁、指责、规劝等多种言外行为。通过称呼语的礼貌使用,能减小交际中对面子的威胁,既能维护对方的积极面子,又能保住对方的消极面子。称呼语在会话轮换中不仅能构成＂召唤—回答＂系列的相邻对,还可以用来选定下一个说话人,或被参与者用来争取和保持话轮。     

Promoting turn-taking skills in preschool children with disabilities: The effects of a peer-based social communication intervention

The current study evaluated the turn-taking skills of preschoolers with disabilities who participated in a social communication intervention that targeted initiations, responses, and turn-taking skills, and taught children to repair and revise and to avoid interruptions and overlaps. Ten children who enrolled in an inclusive at-risk classroom met the inclusion criteria. A multiple baseline design across two dyads replicated across three additional dyads was used to determine the effects of the intervention. The social communication intervention was highly effective for five children, moderately effective for three children, and mildly effective for two children in increasing the rate of initiations with an immediate peer response from baseline to intervention. The social communication intervention was highly effective for one child, moderately effective for three children, mildly effective for two children, and ineffective for four children in improving turn-taking skills. Generalization results showed that nine out of ten participants demonstrated increased peer play following the intervention, increased levels of child-initiated interactions with a positive peer response, and decreased levels of solitary play. Several implications for practice were derived from the findings. By teaching children turn-taking strategies, the quality of social interactions that children have with their peers is likely to improve. The intervention offers a more systematic technique for teaching social communication and play skills than do informal strategies commonly used by teachers. Social validity assessments indicated that teachers found the intervention acceptable and produced important changes in behavior.     

Understanding Nonsocial Play in Early Childhood

Nonsocial play continues to be perceived as a behavior that is detrimental young children’s development. The research evidence in this area is mixed but lends itself to a more positive view of nonsocial play. Despite the substantial amount of literature available, the terminology used fails to be consistent and may prove to be distracting and confusing to practitioners and caregivers. This paper reviews the current literature on young children’s nonsocial play. Distinctions among different types of nonsocial play are identified, as well as some reasons children engage in these activities. By developing a better understanding of the role of nonsocial play in early childhood, caregivers may better understand when children need their help in promoting more social types of play and when intervention may or may not be necessary.     

Smile production in older infants: the importance of a social recipient for the facial signal

2 studies tested the hypothesis that infant smile production depends on the availability of a social recipient for the facial signal, as well as on appropriate internal events. We examined the effects of attentive and inattentive, familiar and unfamiliar social objects on smile production in 1 1/2-year-old infants outside of social interactions. Like adults, these infants directed a majority of the smiles produced during nonsocial activity to an attentive social object. Overall smiling frequency was much lower when the only potential recipient (the mother) was inattentive, but the effect did not appear to be mediated by negative emotion. Only smiles directed to mother were reduced: nonsocial smiling (at the toys) was not sensitive to mother's inattention, and when an attentive, friendly stranger was present, she was accepted as a substitute target for social smiles. We conclude that an open channel of social communication promotes the outward expression of internal affect in infants.     

Mothers' Social Coaching, Mother-Child Relationship Style, and Children's Peer Competence: Is the Medium the Message?

Contributions of mothers' social coaching and responsive style to preschoolers' peer competence were evaluated in 2 studies. In Study 1, 43 mother-child dyads participated in 3 laboratory tasks; videotapes were coded for responsive interaction style in play, advice regarding videotaped peer dilemmas (coaching), and nonsocial teaching in a puzzle task. Coaching and style were largely independent and were correlated with measures of social competence. In Study 2 ( n = 62), coaching and style uniquely predicted teacher ratings, but only style predicted peer acceptance. To investigate whether coaching mediated the effects of style and/or whether style moderated the effects of coaching, the samples were combined. No evidence was found for mediation, but coaching was a more powerful predictor of lower levels of boys' aggression when the mother-child relationship was less responsive. Discussion focuses on models of socialization that stress the interplay of general style and specific socialization practices in promoting social competence.     

谈商务口译的话轮转换

探讨了商务口译中话轮转换,并从接受话轮,打断话轮和创造话轮三方面阐述了译员应积极采取合适的话轮转换策略,以保证商务会话顺利进行,从而达到口译效果。     

Anticipation to Social and Nonsocial Dynamic Cues in Preschool-Age Children

The ability to learn from expectations is foundational to social and nonsocial learning in children. However, we know little about the brain basis of reward expectation in development. Here, 3- to 4-year-olds (N = 26) were shown a passive associative learning paradigm with dynamic stimuli. Anticipation for reward-related stimuli was measured via the stimulus preceding negativity (SPN). To our knowledge, this is the first study to measure an SPN in children younger than age 6. Our findings reveal distinct anticipatory neural signatures for social versus nonsocial stimuli, consistent with previous research in older children. This study suggests an SPN can be elicited in preschoolers and is larger for social than nonsocial stimuli.     

COMBINING SELF‐MONITORING AND AN INTERDEPENDENT GROUP CONTINGENCY TO IMPROVE THE BEHAVIOR OF SIXTH GRADERS WITH EBD

A withdrawal design was used to examine the influence of a self‐monitoring procedure on the overall effectiveness of an interdependent group contingency intervention implemented in a sixth‐grade classroom in an alternative school serving students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD). Dependent variables included student on‐task, off‐task, and disruptive behaviors exhibited during language arts. Following baseline, the classroom teacher implemented an interdependent group contingency using randomized criteria for reinforcement and randomized reinforcers. Next, a self‐monitoring intervention procedure was added to the existing interdependent group contingency intervention. The self‐monitoring procedure was then withdrawn and reinstated. Results indicated that though there were improvements in behavior from baseline upon intervention implementation, the self‐monitoring procedure did not increase the effectiveness of the interdependent group contingency intervention. Limitations and suggestions for future research investigating the influence of self‐monitoring on group contingency interventions are discussed.     

试论社会历史必然性与偶然性统一的时空维度

社会历史是纷繁复杂的,古往今来,人们总试图探索其中的规律。必然性与偶然性是人们试图定性历史事件和历史人物的两个范畴,马克思主义经典作家在历史唯物主义的基础上得出人类社会历史是必然性与偶然性的辩证统一。辩证统一论并非无条件的,必然性与偶然性的统一是存在时空维度的。社会历史必然性与偶然性只有在不同的时间维度和空间维度才能统一,任何历史现象都具有不同的时间维度和空间维度的辩证统一性。     

The Research on Turn-taking Mechanism in Northeast song-and-dance duets

Turn-taking is understood as a realization of the actors'and the actresses'adaptation to their own conversational circumstance----the audience's social world and mental world,to achieve the goal of the performance.The core of this study is the formulation of an adaptation model of turn-taking and a detailed analysis of the influence of conversational circumstance on turntaking in northeast song-and-dance duets.     

Inhibition in Toddlerhood and the Dynamics of the Child''s Interaction with an Unfamiliar Peer at Age Five

Measures of inhibition to social and nonsocial unfamiliar events, obtained in toddlerhood, were studied as predictors of social behaviors during an interaction with an unfamiliar peer in 100 5-year-old children. Social inhibition predicted a highly shy and inhibited behavioral pattern with peer and less frequent expression of affect during fantasy play; nonsocial inhibition predicted decreased involvement in group play. Analysis of the changing dynamics of the ongoing peer interaction revealed that the role of child inhibition as a predictor of social behavior may be mostly evident during the initial encounter with the peer. Children who as toddlers were particularly socially inhibited, during the initial phase of peer interaction showed a significantly stronger pattern of shy and inhibited behavior and proximity to mother. In contrast to existing evidence that maternal depression may be a risk factor for the child's long-term peer relationships, no differences in social behavior were found between children of normal and affectively ill mothers during a brief encounter with unfamiliar peers.     

A signal detection analysis of contingency data

There are many psychological tasks that involve the pairing of binary variables. The various tasks used often address different questions and are motivated by different theoretical issues and traditions. Upon closer examination, however, the tasks are remarkably similar in structure. In the present paper, we examine two such tasks, the contingency judgment task and the signal detection task, and we apply a signal detection analysis to contingency judgment data. We suggest that the signal detection analysis provides a novel interpretation of a well-established but poorly understood phenomenon of contingency judgments-the outcome-density effect.     

Forms of Exchange: Education, Economics and the Neglect of Social Contingency

Economics is privileged in contemporary government policy such that all human transactions are seen as economic forms of exchange. Education has been discursively restructured according to the logic of the market, with education policy being increasingly colonised by economic policy imperatives. This paper explores some of the consequences of this re-framing which draws upon metaphors from industrial and business domains.
This paper examines a significant dimension of teaching that currently has marginal presence in official discourse: social contingency. We argue that social contingency is characterised by a variety of distinctive features that include unpredictability, relationality and ethical demands. The significance of social contingency is highlighted by a comparison with industrial production, which is organisationally contingent, and craft production, which is characterised as materially contingent. We argue that the different nature of contingency in these domains makes them inappropriate as metaphors for teaching. We explore the nature of social contingency and some of the practical and ethical consequences of the failure to articulate this in official discourse. Its absence in such discourse is illustrated by consideration of competence statements in the Initial Teacher Education context. We argue that the neglect of social contingency is founded on assumptions of teacher sovereignty that are both philosophically and ethically unsustainable.     

话轮转换机制与英语会话能力

话轮是会话的基本构造单位。本文通过讨论话轮转换机制中的几个概念:话轮、话轮转换、相邻语对、前置语列、反馈项目等,探讨了英语会话中会话双方获得、保持和放弃话轮的表达方法。本文还就目前英语教学中如何增强话轮转换意识并提高学生的英语会话能力提出了看法。     

Student achievement and differential reinforcement of incompatible behavior: Hand raising

Workbook reading achievement of five second-grade girls was assessed under two teacher-contact contingencies. Under one contingency, teacher contacts were made during on-task behavior. Under the other contingency, differential reinforcement of an incompatible behavior (DRI) was in effect, with teacher contacts contingent on students' hand-raising behavior. Both reading achievement and time on task were greater under the on-task contingency than under DRI for hand raising.