Consequences of "minimal" group affiliations in children

Three experiments (total N=140) tested the hypothesis that 5-year-old children's membership in randomly assigned "minimal" groups would be sufficient to induce intergroup bias. Children were randomly assigned to groups and engaged in tasks involving judgments of unfamiliar in-group or out-group children. Despite an absence of information regarding the relative status of groups or any competitive context, in-group preferences were observed on explicit and implicit measures of attitude and resource allocation (Experiment 1), behavioral attribution, and expectations of reciprocity, with preferences persisting when groups were not described via a noun label (Experiment 2). In addition, children systematically distorted incoming information by preferentially encoding positive information about in-group members (Experiment 3). Implications for the developmental origins of intergroup bias are discussed.     

Implicit learning in children is not related to age: evidence from drawing behavior

Three experiments are reported on implicit learning in 432 children between the ages of 4 and 10 years, using a new paradigm ("the neutral parameter procedure") based on drawing behavior. The first two experiments demonstrated that children modified their drawing behavior following specially devised practice in such a way that these modifications could not be viewed as the result of deliberate adaptive strategies. The third experiment showed that these behavioral modifications lasted for at least 1 hr after the training phase. No age-related differences appeared in the experiments. A comparison of children's data with similar adults' data also failed to reveal any age differences. These results provide compelling evidence that implicit learning processes are age independent. Some implications of these results for developmental issues are discussed, notably the hypothesis of the formation of implicit knowledge in the course of learning.     

Interpreting Primary Children's Representations of Mountains and Mountainous Landscapes and Environments

This paper reports research into children's understanding of mountainous landscapes and mountain genesis as revealed in their drawing and modelling representations and in subsequent interviews. A sample of 444 children aged 7‐11 years was drawn from five UK inner-city schools. Comparisons between the younger (7‐9 years) and older (9‐11 years) children showed significant differences in perception, conception and priorities. The naive interpretation of children's drawings and models is questioned: interview data indicated that children use sophisticated techniques to represent mountains and mountain environments. Children are able to interpret stereotypical representations of mountain landscape features they encounter in books and elsewhere. They make use of a range of conventions in their own drawings that are revealed only in subsequent interviews. Research based solely on the interpretation of children's pictures is shown to be problematic and somewhat unreliable. Children perceive the differences between reality and pictorial representation and make full and conscious use of the range of conventions, including stereotypical forms.     

Order of information presentation and children's moral judgments.

It was hypothesized that age differences in use of intent information in children's moral judgments might be due to a recency effect in the judgments of younger children. A study was conducted to examine the effect of order of stimulus presentation on children's moral judgments. The information was presented to children, ages 4-5 and 8-9 years old, through stories with either normal information order, intent-consequence, or reversed order, consequence-intent. It was found that order has a significant impact on children's moral judgments. In addition, memory data were gathered which indicated that the pattern of forgetting was parallel to the pattern of information preference for the younger subjects. The findings suggested that younger subjects' relative neglect of intent in the normal order of information was based, in part, on their failure to remember the material correctly rather than on differential weighting of the 2 cues.     

Categories influence predictions about individual consistency

Predicting how people will behave in the future is a critical social-cognitive task. In four studies (N = 150, ages preschool to adult), young children (ages 4-5) used category information to guide their expectations about individual consistency. They predicted that psychological properties (preferences and fears) would remain consistent over time after hearing one example in which properties followed a category-linked distribution (e.g., children of different genders had different properties) but not when properties varied within a category (e.g., children of the same gender had different properties). The developmental course of these findings is examined. Results suggest the importance of considering how children's emerging theories of behavior and of social groups operate together to inform their expectations about the social world.     

Origin and Truth: Young Children's Understanding of Imaginary Mental Representations

In 2 studies, we address young children's understanding of the origin and representational relations of imagination, a fictional mental state, and contrast this with their understanding of knowledge, an epistemic mental state. In the first study, 54 3- and 4-year-old children received 2 tasks to assess their understanding of origins, and 4 stories to assess their understanding of representational relations. Children of both ages understood that, whereas perception is necessary for knowledge, it is irrelevant for imagination. Results for children's understanding of representational relations revealed intriguing developmental differences. Although children understood that knowledge represents reality more truthfully than imagination, 3-year-olds often claimed that imagination reflected reality. The second study provided additional evidence that younger 3-year-olds judge that imaginary representations truthfully reflect reality. We propose that children's responses indicate an early understanding of the distinction between mental states and the world, but also a confusion regarding the extent to which mental contents represent the physical world.     

Classroom and Developmental Differences in a Path Model of Teacher Expectancy Effects

A path model of teacher expectancy effects was evaluated in a sample of 376 first- through fifth-grade urban elementary school children. The roles of two moderators (classroom perceived differential treatment environment and developmental differences) and one mediator (children's self-expectations) of teacher expectancy effects on children's year-end achievement were examined. Significant differences in effects and effect sizes are presented. Both classroom environment (high versus low in differential treatment, as seen through children's eyes) and developmental differences moderated the strength of teacher expectancy effects. Generally, stronger effects were found in classrooms in which expectancy-related cues were more salient to children, but developmental differences moderated which effect was most pronounced. A significant age-related decline in direct effects on ending achievement was interpreted as evidence that teacher expectations may tend to magnify achievement differences in the early grades, but serve to sustain them in later grades. Support for indirect effects (teacher expectations --> children's self-expectations --> ending achievement) was limited to upper elementary grade classrooms perceived as high in differential treatment. In contrast to prior research that emphasized small effect sizes, the present analyses document several instances of moderate effects, primarily in classrooms in which expectancy-related messages were most salient to children. These results underscore the importance of explicit attention to the inclusion of moderators, mediators, and multiple outcomes in efforts to understand teacher expectancy effects.     

幼儿知觉到的教师期望结构及发展特点

学生知觉到的教师期望是指学生在与教师的交往过程中所知觉到的教师期望,其对学生的学业和人格发展有重要的影响。本研究在文献综述和调查的基础上,探索幼儿知觉到的教师期望结构,编制“幼儿知觉到的教师期望问卷”,进而探讨幼儿知觉到的教师期望的发展特点。结果发现：幼儿知觉到的教师期望由态度反馈、强化评价、机会特权和支持指导四个维度构成;幼儿知觉到的教师期望问卷有良好的信度和效度;幼儿知觉到的教师期望随年龄的增长而逐渐降低;从总体上看,女孩幼儿知觉到的教师期望水平高于男孩,男孩与女孩知觉到的教师期望发展趋势一致。     

Prediction of elementary school children's externalizing problem behaviors from attentional and behavioral regulation and negative emotionality

The purpose of this study was to examine the moderating role of individual differences in negative emotionality in the relations of behavioral and attentional (emotional) regulation to externalizing problem behaviors. Teachers' and one parent's reports of children's regulation (attentional and behavioral), emotionality, and problem behavior were obtained when children were in kindergarten to grade 3 and two years later (N = 169; 146 in major analyses); children's behavioral regulation also was assessed with a measure of persistence. According to the best fitting structural equation model, at two ages behavioral dysregulation predicted externalizing behavior problems for children both high and low in negative emotionality, whereas prediction of problem behavior from attentional control was significant only for children prone to negative emotionality. There were unique, additive effects of behavioral and attentional regulation for predicting problem behavior as well as moderating effects of negative emotionality for attentional regulation.     

Early Attachment Relationships as Predictors of Preschool Children's Emotion Regulation with a Distressed Sibling

The present study examined (1) the emotion regulation of preschool children by observing their emotional responses to a distressed younger sibling during a separation episode; (2) whether children's regulatory responses were related to sibling interaction observed during the separation episode, and (3) whether individual differences in these children's regulatory responses and the quality of sibling interaction could be predicted from early attachment relationships. Older siblings who ignored their younger siblings' distress were more likely to experience personal distress and use avoidant coping strategies. Emotion regulation strategies were related to the quality of sibling interaction such that older siblings who offered comfort to a distressed younger sibling were more likely to express positive affect in sibling interaction, whereas older siblings seeking adult assistance were less likely to engage in conflict and hostile behavior with a younger sibling. Preschool children who had an insecure-resistant infant-mother attachment at 1 year, were more likely to seek comfort from their younger siblings and engaged in more sibling conflict and hostility when they were 4 years old. The quality of infant-father attachment relationships was not significantly related to the child's emotion regulation at 4 years of age. Results are discussed with respect to the social origins of preschool children's emotional self-regulation and the consequences of emotional dysregulation in preschool settings.     

Mixed-Age Interactions in Family Child Care

Preschool-age children's experiences within the mixed-age setting of family child care homes and the influences of these experiences on development were examined. Development variables included social and cognitive play, and receptive and expressive language. Consistent with Vygotsky's developmental theory, children's interactions with mixed-age peers were more powerful predictors of development than the mere availability of mixed-age peers. Interactions with older peers were associated with more complex cognitive play behaviors. Interactions with younger and same-age peers were associated with less complex social and cognitive play and lower receptive language scores. Characteristics of the child care setting appeared to moderate children's behavior in the mixed-age environment. Children in higher quality family child care homes with responsive caregivers were less likely to interact with younger children. No evidence was found of different developmental outcomes across developmental domains for older versus younger children.     

A longitudinal analysis of maternal abuse potential and developmental delays in children of adolescent mothers.

OBJECTIVE: This project was designed to examine the impact of adolescent mothers' abuse potential on the development of preschool children. The specific aims were to demonstrate relationships between maternal abuse potential and developmental problems in preschool children, to examine these relationships across time, and to determine whether maternal abuse potential predicted developmental delays after controlling for problematic parenting orientations. METHOD: Using a longitudinal design, we examined 146 first time mothers and their children. Maternal abuse potential was assessed when children were 1, 3, and 5 years old; problematic parenting orientation was assessed when the children were 6 months old; and child development (i.e., IQ, adaptive behavior, and behavior problems) was assessed at ages 3 and 5. RESULTS: Regression analyses revealed significant relationships between maternal abuse potential and a variety of developmental problems. Path analyses revealed unidirectional relationships between abuse potential predicting IQ and adaptive behaviors. Further analyses indicated that maternal abuse potential at 1 and 3 years predicted intelligence and adaptive behavior at ages 3 and 5, even when problematic parenting orientation was controlled. In contrast, children's behavioral problems at ages 3 and 5 was better accounted for by problematic parenting orientation than by abuse potential. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study revealed that developmental delays in children of adolescent are related to abuse potential. Two pathways were found for predicting developmental delays: One pathway linked child abuse potential with IQ and adaptive functioning: the other pathway showed that problematic parenting orientation accounted for the development of emotional and behavioral problems.     

Mothers' and Child-Care Providers' Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Responses to Children's Misbehavior

This study compared mothers' and caregivers' attributions for children's misconduct and their corresponding affective and behavioral responses. Forty mothers of 4-year-olds and 40 caregivers employed in childcare settings responded to a series of hypothetical incidents in which a 4-year-old child engaged in a norm violation such as aggression or failed to be altruistic. ANCOVA analyses indicated that mothers and caregivers differed in their causal attributions for children's misbehavior. Mothers and caregivers also differed in their affective and behavioral responses to children's failures to be altruistic, but not in their responses to children's norm violations. Regression analyses performed on the combined scores of mothers and caregivers found that attributions to the stability of the behavior predicted use of induction and a greater emphasis on responding to the misbehavior. A power assertive response was particularly likely if a respondent believed that a behavior was caused by stable personality factors. The documentation of linkage between causal attributions and socialization behavior has implications for parent training and early childhood education. Increasing parents' awareness of developmental processes and external factors that affect a child's behavior may result in a less punitive approach to discipline. Early childhood curricula that encourages examination of adult biases in analyzing children's behavior may assist caregivers to become more reflective and self-aware in interactions with young children.     

The Development of Text Evaluation and Revision Skills

Children in elementary school settings generally do not revise frequently or skillfully, but relatively little is known about the source of their difficulty with revision. 3 studies were conducted to investigate children's developing ability to evaluate and revise problematic texts. In the first 2 studies, fourth-grade (10 years) and sixth-grade (12 years) students were asked to evaluate 3 types of problematic texts and suggest changes to make the texts easier to understand. In the third study, children were asked whether 4 types of revisions improved the comprehensibility of problematic stories. The results showed, first, that older children detected more of the text problems; second, that when younger children spontaneously detected a text problem they were as likely as older children to revise the text adequately; third, that younger children were less able than older children to revise text problems that they had originally overlooked; and, fourth, that younger children overestimated the informativeness of several types of revisions. The results suggest that developmental differences in constructive processing contribute to children's ability to detect and revise text problems.     

The Benefits of Parent Intervention in Children's Disputes: An Examnation of Concurrent Changes in Children's Fighting Styles

The impact of parental intervention on the quality of children's conflict behavior was examined using observational data from 40 English-speaking Canadian families with 2-and 4-year-old children. Children's behavior in the portions of fights that preceded their parents, interventions was compared to their behavior in fights in which there was no intervention. Also, children's behavior before parental intervention was contrasted with their behavior after intervention. It was found that parents intervened in the most intense fights between their children, fights in which the children displayed few de-escalating strategies. Parental intervention was associated with their children using fewer power strategies coupled with an increase in the use of more sophisticated negotiation moves. It was concluded that parental intervention in sibling conflict has beneficial effects in terms of the immediate quality of the children's fighting. Results were interpreted in light of contemporary models of socialization.     

Acting out the details of a pediatric check-up: the impact of interview condition and behavioral style on children's memory reports

This investigation was designed to determine whether an enactment interview condition involving a doll and props, in contrast to a verbal interview, would enhance 3- and 5-year-olds' (N = 62) recall of a pediatric examination. An additional aim was to explore the influence of behavioral styles and language skills on children's performance, and the extent to which these relations varied by age and interview condition. Both 1- and 6-weeks following their check-ups, the children in the enactment condition, particularly the 3-year-olds, provided more spontaneous, elaborate reports than did those assessed with a verbal protocol. Nonetheless, enactment also resulted in increased errors by the 3-year-olds at the first interview, and by children in both age groups after the 6-week delay. The age and interview condition effects, however, were moderated by the children's behavioral characteristics. Among the younger children, a measure of manageability predicted performance in the enactment setting, whereas an indicator of persistence was associated with recall in the verbal condition. The results have implications for an understanding of children's memory of events and of their ability to provide testimony in legal settings.     

Ritual, Habit, and Perfectionism: The Prevalence and Development of Compulsive-like Behavior in Normal Young Children

Young children engage in a significant amount of rutualitic, repetitive, and compulsive-like activity that appears to be part of their Normal behavioral repertoire. Empirically, little is known about the onset, prevalence, and developmental trajectory of these phenomena. A parent-report questionnaire, the Childhood Routines Inventory (CRI), was developed to assess compulsive-like behavior in young children, and was administered to 1,492 parents with children between the ages of 8 and 72 months. The CRI has strong overall internal consistency and a distinct two-factor structure. The frequency of compulsive-like behaviors changes with age: Two-, 3- and 4-year-olds engaged in more compulsive behavior than children younger than 1 year of age and older than 4 years of age. Results are discussed from a development psychopathology framework and for their implications for future research in this area.     

Classroom and Grade Level Differences in the Stability of Teacher Expectations and Perceived Differential Teacher Treatment

Using two independent samples of urban elementary school children from Grades 1, 3, and 5, this study explored the long-term stability of classroom learning environments that differ in the extent of differential teacher treatment favoring high achievers over low achievers, as reported by students. Classroom differences ('high' versus 'low') in perceived differential treatment were highly stable from fall to spring in Grades 3 and 5, but not in Grade 1. Stability in (a) individual children's reports of differential treatment, and (b) teacher expectations for children's year-end reading achievement was accentuated in classrooms where differential treatment was pronounced early in the year, particularly in the higher elementary grades. Findings suggest that there would be heightened risk for problematic teacher expectancy effects and other maladaptive learning outcomes in these classrooms, because stable or rigid performance expectations are coupled with classroom instructional patterns that consistently convey these expectations to children. In contrast, risk is likely to be reduced in classrooms where high and low achievers are treated more equitably in the eyes of children, because teachers' expectations for children are more flexible, and children take longer to discern differences in treatment. The overall consistency of findings in two samples supports the generalizability of the conclusions reached.