Smiling and Fussing in Seven-Month-Old Preterm and Full-Term Black Infants in the Still-Face Situation

We investigated emotional responses to the still-face paradigm in 7-month-old preterm and full-term black infants. Baby FACS criteria were used to code the duration and intensity of infant smiles and the presence or absence of cry faces and fussy vocalizations within each episode. Infants in both groups showed the still-face effect: a significant reduction in smiling from episode 1 (baseline) to episode 2 (maternal still-face) and partial return to baseline in episode 3 (recovery). A multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) for big smiles yielded significant main effects for group and episode and a significant group episode interaction. Preterm infants spent less time than full-term infants displaying big smiles in episode 1 and a less pronounced decrease in big smiles in episode 2. Maternal depressive symptoms did not differ significantly between groups. Counter to our expectations, depressive symptoms were positively associated with small-to-medium smiles in the baseline episode but not with big smiles in any episode. These findings confirm the robustness of the still-face paradigm and its potential usefulness for research on individual as well as group differences in affective communication in infants.     

Theory of mind may be contagious, but you don't catch it from your twin

The theory-of-mind abilities of twins, children with nontwin siblings, and only children were compared to investigate further the link between number and type of siblings and theory-of-mind abilities. Three- to 5-year-old children with nontwin siblings outperformed both only children and twins with no other siblings, twins who also had other siblings outperformed twins who did not, and children with at least 1 opposite-sex sibling outperformed children with only same-sex siblings. Twins performed significantly better when asked about the false beliefs of their twins than they did when asked about the false beliefs of their friends. Results are discussed in terms of potential mechanisms that may account for the twin and sibling effects.     

Modification of chicks’ pecking preferences: Food imprinting or instrumental conditioning?

Using Hess’ technique, 35 small groups of chicks of age 2–3 days or beyond were reinforced in training with food for pecking at one visual stimulus (S+) and nonreinforced for pecking at another (S?) and subsequently tested in extinction. In training, pecking was strongly conditioned to S+, but in testing, both number of pecks to and preference for S+ declined as in instrumental conditioning, contrary to Hess’ original report. Results are discussed relative to studies exposing chicks to actual food objects, where an imprinting-like phenomenon has been found.     

Struggles for Educational Equity in Prince Edward County,VA: Resistance,Southern Manifesto Ideologies,and School Choice

ABSTRACT

In light of contemporary school choice proposals and the 60th anniversary of the Southern Manifesto, the Prince Edward County, Virginia public schools crisis provides interesting historical discussion. Prince Edward County (PEC), a rural community in central Virginia, was one of five school districts represented in the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision that ruled segregated public schools unconstitutional. In response to this decision, PEC closed public schools from 1959–1964 rather than desegregate them. Three other Virginia locales closed public schools to resist the desegregation mandate of Brown—Warren County, Charlottesville, and Norfolk—but none for as long as PEC. Like the 19 Senators and 82 Representatives from each of the former Confederate states who signed the Declaration of Constitutional Principles or “Southern Manifesto” and understood the Brown ruling as a violation of state’s rights, Virginia lawmakers also vowed “…to use all lawful means to bring about a reversal of this decision [Brown] which is contrary to the Constitution and to prevent the use of force in its implementation.”     

Testing Role Models’ Differential Effect on Use of Aggressive Compliance Gaining Strategies

Using a repeated measures design, this empirical study confirmed that a differential relationship exists between significant role models’ use of aggressive compliance gaining strategies (ACGS) and an individual’s use of the same in romantic and non-romantic interactions. As expected, peer use was found to have the strongest relationship to individual use of ACGS with romantic partners. Unexpected was the similarity in strength of parent and peer use to individual use of ACGS with non-romantic partners. Relevance and opportunity are mechanisms used to explain role model impact as an antecedent variable of ACGS use. Future studies to advance theory regarding aggressive communication are discussed.