Where Culture Takes Hold: “Overimitation” and Its Flexible Deployment in Western,Aboriginal, and Bushmen Children

Children often “overimitate,” comprehensively copying others' actions despite manifest perceptual cues to their causal ineffectuality. The inflexibility of this behavior renders its adaptive significance difficult to apprehend. This study explored the boundaries of overimitation in 3‐ to 6‐year‐old children of three distinct cultures: Westernized, urban Australians (N = 64 in Experiment 1; N = 19 in Experiment 2) and remote communities of South African Bushmen (N = 64) and Australian Aborigines (N = 19). Children overimitated at high frequency in all communities and generalized what they had learned about techniques and object affordances from one object to another. Overimitation thus provides a powerful means of acquiring and flexibly deploying cultural knowledge. The potency of such social learning was also documented compared to opportunities for exploration and practice.     

Language and reading impairments are associated with increased prevalence of non-right-handedness

Handedness has been studied for association with language-related disorders because of its link with language hemispheric dominance. No clear pattern has emerged, possibly because of small samples, publication bias, and heterogeneous criteria across studies. Non-right-handedness (NRH) frequency was assessed in N = 2503 cases with reading and/or language impairment and N = 4316 sex-matched controls identified from 10 distinct cohorts (age range 6–19 years old; European ethnicity) using a priori set criteria. A meta-analysis (N_cases = 1994) showed elevated NRH % in individuals with language/reading impairment compared with controls (OR = 1.21, CI = 1.06–1.39, p = .01). The association between reading/language impairments and NRH could result from shared pathways underlying brain lateralization, handedness, and cognitive functions.     

Children’s and Adults’ Views of Punishment as a Path to Redemption

The current work investigated the extent to which children (N=171 6- to 8-year-olds) and adults (N = 94) view punishment as redemptive. In Study 1, children—but not adults—reported that “mean” individuals became “nicer” after one severe form of punishment (incarceration). Moreover, adults expected “nice” individuals’ moral character to worsen following punishment; however, we did not find that children expected such a change. Study 2 extended these findings by showing that children view “mean” individuals as becoming “nicer” following both severe (incarceration) and relatively minor (time-out) punishments, suggesting that the pattern of results from Study 1 generalizes across punishment types. Together, these studies indicate that children—but not adults—may view punishment as a vehicle for redemption.     

Longitudinal links between maternal cultural socialization,peer ethnic-racial discrimination,and ethnic-racial pride in Mexican American youth

This paper used cross-lagged panel models to test the longitudinal interplay between maternal cultural socialization, peer ethnic-racial discrimination, and ethnic-racial pride across 5th to 11th grade among Mexican American youth (N = 674, M_age = 10.86; 72% born in the United States; 50% girls; Wave 1 collected 2006–2008). Maternal cultural socialization predicted increases in subsequent youth ethnic-racial pride, and youth ethnic-racial pride prompted greater maternal cultural socialization. However, peer ethnic-racial discrimination was associated with subsequent decreases in ethnic-racial pride. The magnitude of these associations was consistent across 5th to 11th grades suggesting that maternal cultural socialization messages are necessary to maintain ethnic-racial pride across adolescence, thus families must continually support the development of ethnic-racial pride in their youth to counter the effects of discrimination.     

Differential Effects of Salient Visual Events on Memory-Guided Attention in Adults and Children

Both salient visual events and scene-based memories can influence attention, but it is unclear how they interact in children and adults. In Experiment 1, children (N = 27; ages 7–12) were faster to discriminate targets when they appeared at the same versus different location as they had previously learned or as a salient visual event. In contrast, adults (N = 30; ages 18–31) responded faster only when cued by visual events. While Experiment 2 confirmed that adults (N = 27) can use memories to orient attention, Experiment 3 showed that, even in the absence of visual events, the effects of memories on attention were larger in children (N = 27) versus adults (N = 28). These findings suggest that memories may be a robust source of influence on children's attention.     

The Relation of Moral Emotion Attributions to Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior: A Meta‐Analysis

This meta‐analytic review of 42 studies covering 8,009 participants (ages 4–20) examines the relation of moral emotion attributions to prosocial and antisocial behavior. A significant association is found between moral emotion attributions and prosocial and antisocial behaviors (d = .26, 95% CI [.15, .38]; d = .39, 95% CI [.29, .49]). Effect sizes differ considerably across studies and this heterogeneity is attributed to moderator variables. Specifically, effect sizes for predicted antisocial behavior are larger for self‐attributed moral emotions than for emotions attributed to hypothetical story characters. Effect sizes for prosocial and antisocial behaviors are associated with several other study characteristics. Results are discussed with respect to the potential significance of moral emotion attributions for the social behavior of children and adolescents.     

Critical aspects of student teachers’ conceptions of learning

The aim of this phenomenographic study was to discover the educationally critical aspects of learning conceptions among health education student teachers (N = 20). The qualitative data consisted of written essays and semi-structured interviews. Six qualitatively distinctive conceptions of learning could be discerned, namely learning as 1) the reproduction of acquired health knowledge, 2) the application of health knowledge, 3) developing personal meanings on health matters, 4) the transformation of individual thinking, 5) personal growth, and 6) collective meaning-making. These qualitatively distinct categories were reflected through three themes, which embodied critical aspects: the nature of the knowledge involved, the nature of the reflection involved, and the role of the social environment. In bringing new insights into the existing literature, this study confirms a need for research on learning conceptions across different cultural and educational contexts.     

Experience and maturation: The contribution of co-occurrence regularities in language to the development of semantic organization

With development knowledge becomes organized according to semantic links, including early-developing associative (e.g., juicy–apple) and gradually developing taxonomic links (e.g., apple–pear). Word co-occurrence regularities may foster these links: Associative links may form from direct co-occurrence (e.g., juicy–apple), and taxonomic links from shared co-occurrence (e.g., apple and pear co-occur with juicy). Four experiments (2017–2020) investigated this possibility with 4- to 8-year-olds (N = 148, 82 female) and adults (N = 116, 35 female) in a U.S. city with 58.6% White; 29.0% Black, and 5.8% Asian demographics. Results revealed earlier development of the abilities to form direct (ds > 0.536) than the abilities to form shared co-occurrence-based links (ds > 1.291). We argue that the asynchronous development of abilities to form co-occurrence-based links may explain developmental changes in semantic organization.     

Links between repeating and growing pattern knowledge and math outcomes in children and adults

This study examined repeating and growing pattern knowledge and their associations with procedural and conceptual arithmetic knowledge in a sample of U.S. children (N = 185; M_age = 79.5 months; 55% female; 88% White) and adults (N = 93; M_age = 19.5 years; 62% female; 66% White) from 2019 to 2020. Three key findings emerged: (1) repeating pattern tasks were easier than growing pattern tasks, (2) repeating pattern knowledge robustly predicted procedural calculation skills over and above growing pattern knowledge and covariates, and (3) growing pattern knowledge modestly predicted procedural and conceptual math outcomes over and above repeating pattern knowledge and covariates. We expand existing theoretical models to incorporate these specific links and discuss implications for supporting math knowledge.     

Something About the Way You Speak: A Meta-analysis on Children’s Linguistic-based Social Preferences

There is growing interest in the role of linguistic cues (accents, dialects, language) in driving children’s social preferences. This meta-analysis integrated 131 effect sizes involving 2,680 infants and children from 2 days old to 11 years. Overall, children prefer native-accent, native-dialect, and native-language speakers over non-native counterparts (d = 0.57). Meta-regression highlighted that bilinguals (d = 0.93) do not exhibit less native-speaker preference compared to monolinguals (d = 0.62). Children displayed stronger preferences based on accent (d = 1.04) than dialect (d = 0.44) and language (d = 0.39). Children’s cultural background, exposure to non-native speech, age, and preference measure were not significant moderators. The data are discussed in light of several theoretical explanations for when and why children show linguistic-based social preferences.     

Is There a Downside to Anticipating the Upside? Children's and Adults’ Reasoning About How Prior Expectations Shape Future Emotions

Four- to 10-year-olds and adults (N = 205) responded to vignettes involving three individuals with different expectations (high, low, and no) for a future event. Participants judged characters’ pre-outcome emotions, as well as predicted and explained their feelings following three events (positive, attenuated, and negative). Although adults rated high-expectation characters more negatively than low-expectation characters after all outcomes, children shared this intuition starting at 6–7 years for negative outcomes, 8–10 years for attenuated, and never for positive. Comparison to baseline (no expectation) indicated that understanding the costs of high expectations emerges first and remains more robust across age than recognition that low expectations carry benefits. Explanation analyses further clarified this developing awareness about the relation between thoughts and emotions over time.     

A robot is watching me!: Five-year-old children care about their reputation after interaction with a social robot

Since robots are becoming involved in children's lives, it is urgent to determine how children perceive robots. The present study assessed whether Japanese 5-year-olds care about their reputation when interacting with a social robot. Children were given stickers and asked to divide them between themselves and an absent recipient. Results revealed that children (N = 112, 55 boys, 57 girls) strategically shared more stickers when being watched by a social interactive robot than by an attentional but non-interactive robot or a still robot. Additionally, children (N = 36, 18 boys, 18 girls) attributed higher psychological properties to social robots. This study is the first to show that 5-year-olds care about their reputations from social robots.     

Quantifying social skill deficits and strengths profiles in autistic youth

While social difficulties in autism are well-established, questions remain regarding whether these represent challenges in acquiring or performing such skills, reduced social strengths, or a unique distribution across these domains (i.e., social profile). This study empirically derived social profiles of 211 autistic and non-autistic youth (M_age = 13.50; Autistic N = 150; Male N = 151; 85.3% White). Assessments occurred between 2016 and 2020. Results showed that autistic youth exhibit significantly more social acquisition and performance deficits and fewer strengths than nonautistic youth (ds = −.44 to .65). Performance deficits were most—and acquisition deficits least—prominent within autistic profiles, potentially implicating longstanding theoretical models of social difficulties in autism, and supporting new, idiographic approaches for conceptualizing, assessing, and treating social challenges.     

Preferences for Explanation Generality Develop Early in Biology But Not Physics

One of the core functions of explanation is to support prediction and generalization. However, some explanations license a broader range of predictions than others. For instance, an explanation about biology could be presented as applying to a specific case (e.g., “this bear”) or more generally across “all animals.” The current study investigated how 5‐ to 7‐year‐olds (N = 36), 11‐ to 13‐year‐olds (N = 34), and adults (N = 79) evaluate explanations at varying levels of generality in biology and physics. Findings revealed that even the youngest children preferred general explanations in biology. However, only older children and adults preferred explanation generality in physics. Findings are discussed in light of differences in our intuitions about biological and physical principles.     

“American = English Speaker” Before “American = White”: The Development of Children's Reasoning About Nationality

Adults implicitly judge people from certain social backgrounds as more “American” than others. This study tests the development of children's reasoning about nationality and social categories. Children across cultures (White and Korean American children in the United States, Korean children in South Korea) judged the nationality of individuals varying in race and language. Across cultures, 5‐ to 6‐year‐old children (N = 100) categorized English speakers as “American” and Korean speakers as “Korean” regardless of race, suggesting that young children prioritize language over race when thinking about nationality. Nine‐ and 10‐year‐olds (N = 181) attended to language and race and their nationality judgments varied across cultures. These results suggest that associations between nationality and social category membership emerge early in life and are shaped by cultural context.     

Longitudinal Associations Among Child Maltreatment,Resting Frontal Electroencephalogram Asymmetry,and Adolescent Shyness

Child maltreatment is linked to distinct neurophysiological patterns and social‐emotional vulnerability. Relations among maltreatment, relative resting frontal alpha asymmetry, shyness, and psychopathology were examined prospectively. Adolescent girls (age 14–16) who experienced child maltreatment (N = 55) were compared to nonmaltreated controls (N = 25), and returned for 6‐ and 12‐month follow‐ups. Among participants exhibiting relative right frontal asymmetry, maltreated adolescents reported higher shyness than controls at Time 1. Low‐stable and high‐stable shyness trajectories were observed for maltreated participants. Compared to low shy, participants in high‐shy trajectory reported at Time 3: higher neuroticism and generalized anxiety; and lower extraversion if they also exhibited relative right frontal asymmetry. Thus, right frontal brain activity and shyness are involved in social‐emotional vulnerability of adolescents who experienced child maltreatment.     

Cultural Components of Sex Differences in Color Preference

Preferences for pink and blue were tested in children aged 4–11 years in three small-scale societies: Shipibo villages in the Peruvian Amazon, kastom villages in the highlands of Tanna Island, Vanuatu, and BaYaka foragers in the northern Republic of Congo; and compared to children from an Australian global city (total N = 232). No sex differences were found in preference for pink in any of the three societies not influenced by global culture (ds − 0.31–0.23), in contrast to a female preference for pink in the global city (d = 1.24). Results suggest that the pairing of female and pink is a cultural phenomenon and is not driven by an essential preference for pink in girls.     

Essentialization of Social Categories Across Development in Two Cultures

Children display an “essentialist” bias in their everyday thinking about social categories. However, the degree and form of this bias varies with age and with the nature of the categories, as well as across cultures. This project investigated the development of the essentialist bias across five social categories (i.e., gender, nationality, religious affiliation, socioeconomic status (rich/poor), and sports-team supporter) in two countries. Children between 5 and 10 years of age in Turkey (Study 1, N = 74) and the United States (Study 2, N = 73), as well as adults in both countries (Study 3, N = 223), participated. Results indicate surprising cross-cultural parallels with respect to both the rank ordering of essentialist thinking across these five categories and increasing differentiation among them over development.     

Developmental antecedents of young adults’ solidarity during the Covid-19 pandemic: The role of sympathy,social trust,and peer exclusion from early to late adolescence

This study explored characteristics of young adults’ solidarity during the Covid-19 pandemic by identifying three different profiles, characterized by low (23%), average (54%), and high solidarity (23%). Based on longitudinal Swiss panel data (N_T1 = 797, M_{age T1} = 12.15 years, 51% female; 28% migration background representing diverse ethnicities; N_T2 = 707, M_{age T2} = 15.33 years; N_T3 = 596, M_{age T3} = 18.31 years), the study combined person- and variable-centered approaches to examine whether sympathy, social trust, and peer exclusion at earlier phases in development predicted membership in pandemic-related solidarity profiles (N_T4 = 300, M_{age T4} = 20.33 years). All developmental predictors were significantly associated with the likelihood of expressing solidarity during the pandemic as young adults.