Differences in Pride and Shame in Maltreated and Nonmaltreated Preschoolers

This study examined the expression of shame and pride in maltreated and nonmaltreated preschool children. 84 4–5-year-old children and their mothers participated in the study: 42 had a history of child maltreatment and 42 served as matched controls. Children were presented with easy and difficult tasks and their emotional responses of shame and pride were observed. No shame was shown when subjects succeeded on the tasks and no pride was shown when they failed. Maltreating mothers offered more negative feedback, particularly to their daughters, than nonmaltreating mothers. Maltreated girls showed more shame when they failed and less pride when they succeeded than nonmaltreated girls. The relation between differential socialization practices and the self-conscious emotions is explored as it relates to observed gender differences in emotionality and self-concept.     

Temperament and Parenting Antecedents of Individual Differences in Three-Year-Old Boys' Pride and Shame Reactions

To examine individual differences in pride and shame reactions of 3-year-olds and their temperamental and parenting antecedents, 110 boys were studied at ages 36 and 37 months in a "rigged" achievement situation. After being trained to complete explicitly stipulated "easy" and "difficult" tasks before a buzzer sounded, success and failure were manipulated by artificially "rigging" how much time the child had to work on these tasks. Children's facial, verbal, and postural reactions to success and failure were composited to create pride scores following success and shame scores following failure. As expected, pride reactions were greater following success on the difficult than on the easy task, and shame reactions were greater following failure on the easy than on the difficult task. Early temperament (at 12/13 months) proved unrelated to pride and shame. With respect to parenting, measurements composited across 15, 21, 27, and 33 months showed that mothers and fathers who were more positive in their parenting had children who displayed less pride, and that children whose parents (especially mothers) were more negative in their parenting evinced less shame. These counterintuitive findings are discussed in terms of differences between assessments of parenting obtained in this investigation of parenting antecedents and those obtained in other studies of parental responses in the achievement situation itself. Directions for future research are outlined.     

Nonverbal Displays as Indicants of Task Difficulty

Accurately determining when students are having difficulty with cognitive tasks is important in educational settings. This study investigated whether college students emitted observable displays of cognitive difficulty when engaged in solitary problem-solving tasks. Participants high and low in self-monitoring tendencies were videotaped while solving both hard and easy problems. Ten-second segments of the videotapes were rated for displayed difficulty levels. Results indicate that college students do emit nonverbal displays indicating task difficulty: Students' displayed significantly less difficulty while solving easy problems than while solving hard problems. Results also indicated that the difficulty displays of low self-monitors were more discernible than the difficulty displays of high self-monitors. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.     

Achievement as a Function of Test Item Complexity and Difficulty

The effects of training tests on subsequent achievement were studied using 2-test item characteristics: item difficulty and item complexity. Ninety Ss were randomly assigned to treatment conditions having easy or difficult items and calling for rote or complex skills. Each S was administered two training tests during the quarter containing only items defined by his treatment condition. The dependent measure was a sixty item final examination with fifteen items reflecting each of the four treatment condition item types. The results showed greater achievement for those trained with difficult items and with rote items. In addition, two interaction of treatment conditions with type of test items were found. The results are discussed as supporting a hierarchical model rather than a “similarity” transfer model of learning.     

Age and Gender Differences in Children's Self- and Task Perceptions during Elementary School

We examined the development of children's self- and task perceptions during the elementary school years. 865 first-, second-, and fourth-grade children (ages 7–10) completed questionnaires assessing their perceptions of competence in, and valuing of, activities in several activity domains (math, reading, sports, and instrumental music). Factor analyses showed that even the first graders had differentiated self-beliefs for the various activities. These analyses also indicated that children's competence beliefs and subjective task values formed distinct factors. Analyses assessing age and gender differences in children's beliefs showed that for all the activities except sports, younger children's (particularly the first graders) perceptions of competence and subjective task values were more positive than the beliefs of the older children. Boys had more positive competence beliefs and values than did girls for sport activities, and more positive competence beliefs for mathematics. Girls had more positive competence beliefs and values than did boys for reading and music activities.     

The Effect of Age and Task Difficulty

Electronic Performance Monitoring (EPM) is a common technique used to record employee performance. EPM may include counting computer keystrokes, monitoring employees' phone calls or internet activity, or documenting time spent on work activities. Despite EPM's prevalence, no studies have examined how this management tool affects older workers–a steadily increasing labor pool. In the current interdisciplinary study, 85 older (M=46.9 years) and 77 younger participants (M=22.1 years) were randomly assigned to perform a simple or difficult computer data‐entry task under two conditions: monitored or not monitored. ANCOVA results indicated that EPM decreased performance and induced higher stress levels compared to non‐monitored conditions when computer experience levels were controlled. Additionally, older adults showed a trend of being more impacted by EPM when compared with younger adults. Results are discussed in terms of how EPM might be most effectively used by organizations while minimizing employee stress levels.     

Children''s Perceptions of Self and of Relationships with Others as a Function of Sociometric Status

We studied the relations among children's reports about their own competence, objective measures of their competence, and their views of important relationships with others as a function of sociometric status. 515 third- and fourth-grade children responded to questions about aspects of their personal competence and about their relationships with mothers, fathers, teachers, and best friends. Rejected children reported the least supportive relationships overall with their fathers of any status group; this was especially true of rejected-aggressive children. Neglected children reported the lowest perceived social competence with peers. The subjective reports of rejected but not neglected children overestimated their social competence as rated by peers. Relative to teacher reports, rejected-aggressive children also overestimated their behavioral competence. While highlighting heterogeneity among low-accepted groups, these results add to knowledge about the subjective experiences of children who are unpopular with peers.     

The Relation of Gender Understanding to Children''s Sex-typed Preferences and Gender Stereotypes

Our goal was to explore how children's understanding of gender as a social category relates to their acquisition of sex-typed knowledge and preferences. Children's gender concepts, sex-typed preferences, and stereotyped knowledge were measured in 61 boys and girls (3-5 years). Gender concept measures included ability to identify and to discriminate the sexes, understanding gender group membership, temporal stability of gender, and gender consistency over situational changes. Children improved with age on most of the measures except gender consistency. With the exception of consistency, measures of gender concept understanding were found to be related to children's stereotyped toy and clothing knowledge and/or to their sex-typed toy preferences (with age controlled). It was shown that only rudimentary gender understanding is needed prior to children learning about sex stereotypes and prior to showing strong sex-typed preferences for peers or toys. The roles of gender identity, stability, consistency, and group membership in the sex-typing process are discussed.     

任务复杂度、任务难度对口语表达的影响

针对任务复杂度和任务难度问题,文章将信息理论引入口语表达的研究中。从语言学习的信息处理模式入手,以试验的方式,统计的方法分析了任务复杂度、任务难度对中国学生英语交际中语言表达准确性的影响;研究任务复杂度与记忆性之间的相互关系;找出影响任务复杂度、任务难度的具体因素。     

Mathematics Achievement as a Function of Within- and Between-School Differences

Achievement in mathematics of eighth-grade students is modeled as a function of within-school, between-school and cross-country differences. The data were obtained from 217,728 students, within 7,216 secondary schools, in 48 countries, who participated in the 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. Multilevel analysis showed that out of the total variance in mathematics achievement, 40.39%, 20.61%, and 38.99% were accounted for within-school, between-school-within-country, and cross-country differences, respectively. Mathematics self-concept followed by socioeconomic status was the strongest predictor of achievement at the student level. At the school level, school location yielded the strongest link to achievement, while at the country level socioeconomic status was the main predictor of national mathematics average.     

Gender Differences in Arithmetic Strategy Use: A Function of Skill and Preference

This study was designed to examine whether first-grade boys' use of retrieval and first-grade girls' use of manipulatives reflected gender differences in their abilities to use these strategies or gender differences in preferences for strategy use. Eighty-four first-grade students, 42 boys and 42 girls, from two suburban elementary schools participated in this study. The children solved basic arithmetic problems under two conditions: a free-choice condition in which they were allowed to solve the problems any way they preferred and a game condition in which the children's strategy use was constrained so that all children used the same strategies on the same arithmetic problems. Strategy use during the free-choice session replicated the findings of earlier research indicating that girls tend to use strategies utilizing manipulatives and boys tend to use retrieval. During the game condition, when we controlled the types of strategies children used on different problems we found that boys were as able as girls to calculate solutions using manipulatives. Girls, however, were not as capable as boys in their retrieval of answers to arithmetic problems from memory. No differences were found in error rates or speed of retrieval. Gender differences were found in the variability of correct retrieval, with boys being significantly more variable than girls.     

Gender and Gender Identity Differences in Learning Styles

In the past decade, extensive research on gender and learning styles has produced a multitude of findings: gender differences in learning styles are small on average, but across studies quite different results are observed. In the present study, this heterogeneity is the central focus of our attention. Two possible interpretations concerning the educational context and the concept of gender identity are investigated: the teacher and the subject he or she teaches. Besides the variable gender as a dichotomous variable, the variable gender identity is included to reflect the theoretical standpoint of the social construction of gender differences. Using multivariate techniques on a data set of 432 adult secondary students, the observed relations between gender, gender identity and learning styles are described. Gender identity turns out to explain more variance in the use of learning styles compared to gender. Furthermore, it is shown that gender (identity) differences in learning styles do not vary across teachers and, with one exception, they do not vary across subjects.     

Income Level, Gender, Ethnicity, and Household Composition as Predictors of Children''s School-based Competence

In the United States, being black, male, or growing up in a low-income and/or single-parent household have all been identified as risk factors for maladjustment during childhood. Interpretation of these findings is, however, often difficult because of the well-known associations among these variables. In the present study, we compared predictions of 3 different forms of children's competence from each of these 4 variables. In a sample of 868 black and white elementary school children from 2-parent and mother-headed 1-parent homes, we studied 3 aspects of school-based competence: conduct, peer relations, and academic achievement. Results showed that although the independent variables accounted for different amounts of variance in each domain of competence, income level and gender were better overall predictors of children's competence in conduct and peer relations than were ethnicity or household composition. Income level and ethnicity were better overall predictors of academic achievement than were gender or household composition, although each of the 4 variables made a significant contribution. Overall, income level and gender were thus the strongest predictors of children's competence. Black children were, however, more likely than white children to live in low-income homes. Our results thus highlighted some correlates of the unequal distribution of economic resources among black and white children growing up in the United States today.     

英语中的性别差异研究

语言中的性别差异是客观存在的社会现象。作为整个文化系统的一个子系统，语言符号系统以四种指表模式－－标识、评价、规定和构成反映了两性之间的差异及地位。本文从这四个方面列举了英语中的性别差异现象，分析了导致这一现象的原因，并指出性别语言之间的差异正在逐步缩小，英语中的性别歧视现象将由引得以消除。     

Gender Differences in Conversation

Men and women applied language distinct from each other in many ways. The thesis gives an illustration of gender differences in conversation and different interpretive frames within which the discourse between men and women take place. More profoundly,it tries to explain them from perspective of socialization.     

非语言交际中体距的性别差异

随着国际政治、经济、文化的全球化,男女之间的非语言交际越来越受到人们的重视。论文叙述了男女性之间在空间使用上的具体差异并揭示了形成这些差异的五个原因,即生理差异,男女社会化,性吸引,定势和支配-服从。     

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.     

Gender Differences in Conversation

Men and women applied language distinct from each other in many ways. The thesis gives an illustration of gender dif-ferences in conversation and different interpretive frames within which the discours...     

关于幼儿学习的个体差异的初步研究--从多元智能的视角

通过对上海某幼儿园大班22名幼儿的智能发展进行初步研究发现：幼儿的智能结构表现出很大差异：幼儿的智能结构影响了其在不同领域的行为方式；不同智能结构的幼儿解决同一问题的方式存在差异；同一种智能的呈现方式在不同幼儿身上会有不同；同一种智能水平相当的幼儿在该能力各要素的水平上存在较大差异。